Seven Years in Slytherin
by XxMookinexX
Summary: It's Uncle Ron's fault. If he had never warned them off Scorpius Malfoy, Rose would never have dragged Albus into his compartment. He'd have chosen Gryffindor, and James wouldn't be ignoring him. But Albus means white. He could be happy in any house. A Slytherin can be good as well as great. A next generation fic. Side story to Inheritance. TRY IT!
1. The Choice That Matters

_**Seven Years in Slytherin  
**_XxMookinexX

Based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.

Rated K+ for implied character death. Possible language. Rating may go up in subsequent chapters. This story starts from the epilogue, when Albus, Scorpius and Rose are in their first year. It will cover (not in every detail) seven years of plot from romance to adventure.

I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters, I only wish I did. Any and all unrecognizable characters belong solely to me and are not to be touched. I am not making any money off of this and I write with the sole intention to entertain. This disclaimer applies to all future chapters. I am disclaiming everything the prefects say at the end of this chapter - it's been ever so slightly altered but it's essentially a direct quote from the Pottermore website.

* * *

**First Year, Part One**  
The Choice That Matters_  
_

"The greatest turning points in his life were mistakes balancing on a knife-edge."_  
_On Albus Potter, Inheritance

"Your mum would be so proud of you," Grace's dad said as they hugged goodbye in front of the Hogwarts Express. "_I _am so proud of you." Grace's resolve broke at those words, and the tears she'd promised herself she wouldn't cry spilled down her cheeks. She hadn't wanted to cry in front the Carlsdales – Alex was going to tease her ruthlessly (she couldn't _believe_ he was a Gryffindor sometimes) and Timothy… She had the biggest crush in the world on the fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect. The idea of crying in front of him was abhorrent, but this was her dad, her only family, and knowing that she would be apart from him for a whole year was even worse.

"I don't want to go," she whispered into his ear as quietly as she could. But that wasn't true. They both knew she'd dreamed of going to Hogwarts since Timothy got his letter five years ago (and how she'd _cursed_ when Alex got his! She'd really hoped he would turn out to be a squib, which was a terrible thought, she knew, and felt slightly guilty about). What Grace meant was that she didn't want her dad to be lonely. She loved him dearly. He was the kindest, funniest man she knew. Admittedly he had to talk to witches and wizards as part of his job, but the general hubbub that surrounded Quality Quidditch Supplies wasn't enough to fill the hole Grace was sure she was leaving behind her. Besides, it wasn't as if young witches and wizards needed much encouragement to splurge. Grace wouldn't consider them proper conversations. She was especially worried because after the noise of a Diagon Alley day she knew he'd be coming home to an empty suburban London house. If it weren't for the Carlsdales Grace wouldn't have known what to do. Fortunately the Carlsdales lived just down the road, and Sally and Francis Carlsdale had promised to look in on him from time to time as well as inviting him for supper at least once a week.

Grace's dad understood all this and squeezed her extra tight. When he pulled away slightly to look into her face she saw he was rubbing away a stray tear from the corner of his right eye, dabbing with the sleeve of his robe at the moisture underneath his glasses.

"I'm going to miss you too, Gracie," he whispered, smiling wobbly as he dabbed at the blotchiness of her face. "But you're going to have a wonderful time," he said, and he got a faraway look in his eyes, the look she knew he got whenever he was thinking of her mum. "Some of the best years of my life took place at Hogwarts."

She nodded, sniffing and glanced sidelong at the Carlsdales to see whether they'd witnessed her tears, but Alex was distracted (already being lectured by his mum) and Timothy was missing. She whipped her head around to try to spot him, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then Mr Carlsdale stepped out of the carriage rubbing his hands together, followed by Timothy.

"Well, we've moved your trunk into Alex's compartment for now," Mr Carlsdale said, ruffling Grace's hair affectionately. The colour drained from Grace's face. Of course, she'd known Timothy would be sitting in the prefect carriage, but surely she wasn't going to spend the train ride with _that_ idiot. She sent Timothy a desperate look, hoping that he would understand her predicament. He winked one of his hazel eyes at her.

"Don't worry, you don't have to sit with him if you don't want to. We just wanted to put your things somewhere safe, and dad charmed your trunk so that Alex won't be able to open it and mess with your things," Timothy reassured her. Mr Carlsdale shook his head knowingly.

"I sometimes rue the day we let Alex meet James Potter." Timothy shook his head in turn, and they all looked over towards Alex.

"I'm serious, Alex!" Sally Carlsdale berated. "If the headmaster owls me to say you've blown up _one_ more classroom, I will _personally_ come to Hogwarts to turn you into a toad!"

"_Mum_, the potions classroom is _always_ blowing up!" Alex complained, indicating with a whining tone of voice just how unfair she was being.

"But the resultant explosions don't _always_ write rude messages about their _professors_ on the _walls_!" Alex looked mutinous.

"Well, _Professor_ Moors shouldn't be such a-"

"Alex!" Mrs Carlsdale looked furious. Usually Alex and Timothy looked very like their mum, but right now she was a picture of rage. She was tight-lipped and her nostrils flared as her blonde curls bounced around her face. Alex blushed and mumbled something that sounded like '_Sorry, Mum'_. She relented and sighed. "_Please_, Alex, _try_ not to get so many detentions this year."

"Yes, Mum," he mumbled, looking off to the side. When he spotted Grace watching, he glared at her but she saw his blush rising up the back of his neck. She grinned as Sally hugged him and tried ineffectually to place a kiss on his cheek. "Gross, Mum, stop it!" He sprang away from her and came to say goodbye to his dad, and Timothy went to kiss his mum dutifully goodbye as she smoothed down his hair and told him how proud she was of him. Grace wondered, not for the first time, what her own mum would have said to her today. She looked back at her dad and caught the sad expression on his face. She wondered what he was thinking, and tried to cheer him up.

"I'll write to you with Errata all the time, so make sure to write back!" she demanded. He smiled and ruffled her hair. Errata was a Mexican Striped owl who looked like she'd just emerged from a Muggle tumble-drier. Her feathers stuck out all over the place, and Grace worried every time Errata took flight that the wind would blow her away. She'd been in the family for six years, however, and hadn't failed a delivery yet.

"I will. I promise." A hoot from down the platform alerted Grace to get onto the carriage, and she threw herself back into her dad's arms. "Look after yourself, sweetheart," he whispered in her ear.

"You too! I love you, Dad."

"And I love you. Hurry now!"

She broke away and ran onto the carriage behind Alex and Timothy. They wound down their window to say goodbye. She caught Mrs Carlsdale's eye.

"Bye!" she called as the train jerked once, beginning to move. "Remember your promise!"

"I will," Mrs Carlsdale called, smiling to herself. "Take care, Grace. Timothy, keep your brother out of mischief!"

"As if I could," Timothy muttered under his breath as Grace blew her dad a kiss and waved desperately. The train picked up pace as they chorused their goodbyes.

"I'll see you soon!" she shouted back across the platform, but with everyone else shouting farewell she wasn't sure whether they'd heard her, and soon, with all the fog, the three adults were completely out of view.

"What promise?" Alex demanded, scowling at her. Timothy rolled his eyes and flicked his brother on the head.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. Alex blushed and pushed Timothy's arm away.

"If it was _obvious_, I wouldn't have asked!"

"I just… want her to look after dad while I'm away," Grace explained, somewhat hesitantly. She blushed, and hoped Alex wasn't about to tease her for that because she'd thought it was really important. Thankfully, when she looked up at him he was looking away, awkwardly.

"Where's our compartment?" he asked Timothy.

"Over here, I spotted Catherine and Bethany and assumed James would be along in a minute – oh, he's already here," he explained as he swung open a compartment door. Alex brushed straight past him. He and the three people inside started talking in loud excited voices. Timothy rolled his eyes and turned to Grace. Time was Alex used to hang off Timothy's every word. It was startling to see how easily Alex brushed off his older brother now. "How're you feeling?"

"Um," Grace thought quickly. "Okay." Nervous, but excited. It was hard to believe she was really here. Really on the Hogwarts express with them. She glanced at the compartment. She knew a train ride with Alex and James Potter and their fanclub would probably be unbearable. "I think I'll-"

"Grace!" James Potter stuck his head out of the door. She bit down on her tongue in surprise and winced as the taste of blood pervaded her senses. She had met James once or twice when he'd visited Alex over the holidays, and treated him wearily. He was always so enthusiastic when he saw her – he'd once given her a sweet that made her throw up for half an hour straight, so she suspected his enthusiasm for her was an attempt to turn her into a willing victim in his and Alex's schemes. "Come in, come in!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the carriage. She sent Timothy a panicked look, but he just laughed from the doorway.

"I'll come check on you guys later."

"Yes, yes." James waved a hand. "Don't let us keep you from the prefect carriage – I'm sure they're full of ideas on how to keep us troublemakers in our place. Vital stuff."

"See you later," Grace whispered, smiling at him when he waved at her before closing the compartment door behind him.

"Anyway, we knew Filch was waiting just around the corner," Alex was telling a story, letting the two witches hang on his every word. "So we used a clever bit of magic to sneak past."

"Alex!" one of the girls complained through a laugh. She had wavy reddish-brown hair, like dull copper, and a perfectly lovely nose even though she snorted when she laughed. "Alex, why don't you ever tell us the exciting bits! What clever bit of magic did you use? It's infuriating! How did you know he was there?" Grace caught the significant glance James and Alex shared.

"Now, now, Cathy, it's tricks of the trade. We can't exactly _tell_ you, or it wouldn't be as impressive," James said, dropping onto the seat next to Alex and pulling Grace down beside him. Grace inched her way to the edge of the seat, as far away from the boys as she could get to. Something horrible was going to happen to her, she just knew it.

"Well that's not fair," Cathy complained, and nudged her friend in the side. "Bethany agrees with me, don't you Beth?"

"Completely," the other girl said with a grin. She had short blonde hair and bright green eyes. "You boys keep too much to yourselves."

"Well, maybe we'll tell you later," Alex muttered, shooting Grace a look of annoyance. "When we're not babysitting, I mean." Grace blushed. It wasn't like she cared what the two of them got up to, but it was rather infuriating to be left out. Sometimes she really hated Alex. He was so mean!

"Sorry," Beth said. "I'm Beth, and this is Cathy. You're one of Alex's neighbours, right? Are you looking forward to Hogwarts?"

"More than you can imagine," Grace said, eagerly. The other girls laughed, remembering when they had been in her position and knowing exactly what she felt.

"I'm sure it feels that way," Beth agreed. "What house do you want to be in? Gryffindor?" James was grinning unhelpfully, and started nudging Alex in the side.

"Um…" She wanted to be in Ravenclaw, but she knew saying so would only provoke Alex because Timothy was in Ravenclaw. Besides, Grace didn't think she was clever enough to enjoy Ravenclaw. She simply liked the idea of being in Timothy's house. Alex seemed to guess what she wasn't saying though because his eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to say something vile. "My dad was a Hufflepuff," she blurted before he could start anything, and his mouth snapped shut.

"I like Hufflepuffs," Cathy said. "They're so cheerful."

"Gryffindor's better," Alex grumbled glaring out of the window. James rammed his elbow into Alex's side.

"Are you okay?" Cathy asked, roaring with laughter as Alex clutched his side in a brief agony.

"Fine," he ground out, kicking James in the shin, but James took delight in pretending he hadn't felt a thing.

"My little brother's starting his first year, my cousin Rose, too. I told them I'd disown them if they became Slytherins." Grace frowned, she'd never really worried about being a Slytherin. Now she wondered how much worse these two would treat her if she did end up in that house.

"James!" Beth whined. "James, that's a horrible thing to say! Especially when you don't mean it."

"Who says I don't?" he challenged, grinning.

"Oh, please! Everyone knows you'll be furious if he doesn't become a Gryffindor. You should just tell him you want to be in the same house, rather than making him feel terrible about being sorted somewhere else. Why can't you boys ever be honest about your feelings?" She shot Alex a pointed look, who stiffened but ignored her.

"I can't do that!" James laughed as if the idea was ridiculous. "It's _Albus_, Beth. If I was ever nice to him, he'd probably wet himself."

"Then you should definitely tell him!" Alex agreed, laughing as Beth scowled. Grace wondered if she could leave the compartment. She'd wanted to make friends on the train journey, not hang around with Alex and his gang. Although she was starting to think that James was their ringleader.

"You're right! I'll go to their compartment directly!" James stood up.

"James," Beth berated him. "Be nice!"

"Don't worry, I'm just checking on them." He shot her a small mischievous smile and turned to Alex. "I trust you'll keep the ladies amused." Alex performed a mock salute. Grace looked at the other three and swallowed. Beth was nice, and Cathy didn't seem to be overtly horrible, but she couldn't bear to stay with Alex.

"Can I come?" she blurted quickly, blushing as they all shot her surprise looks. "I'd like to meet some other first years."

"Um." It surprised Grace to realize that James wasn't looking at her, but at Alex over her shoulder. She turned to find out why, and caught his scowl before he turned away from her. Maybe she'd ruined some elaborate joke they had planned.

"Of course you can," James said, smiling to cover up what felt like an awkward moment. "We're not holding you hostage."

"It was nice to meet you," Cathy called, giggling as Grace jumped to her feet.

"I hope you end up in a house you like," Beth agreed, smiling prettily. Alex didn't say anything. Grace looked up at the luggage rack where Errata hooted in her sleep.

"Thanks," she said. "If she wakes up will you let her go hunting?" After promising they would, Grace pushed past James into the corridor. James sighed and closed the door.

"They'll be in the last carriage," he muttered, leading the way. "Probably the last compartment."

"What're they like?" Grace asked, blushing slightly. "Your brother and cousin, I mean?"

"Err," James hesitated and shrugged. "Albus is Albus. Rosie's kind of bookish." Grace nodded and wondered if that meant Rosie wanted to be a Ravenclaw. Grace wouldn't mind being a Ravenclaw if she had someone to help her out. She'd guessed from James' comments that Albus would be a Gryffindor. Good for him, but Grace knew she would avoid Gryffindor if it was the last thing she did. There would be nothing worse than having to sit through Alex's pranks every day if they were in the same house. It had been bad enough just being his neighbour! James looked at Grace sidelong out of the corner of his eyes. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"What do you think of Alex?" Grace was lost for words.

"Why… would you ask that?" she wondered, trying to put off her response for as long as possible. She knew how she felt about Alex. He was a horrible bully, a sore loser, and he had a nasty temper. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that they didn't like one another, least of all to James, his best friend. That being said, it probably wasn't a good idea to provoke James. The two had been oddly nice so far. She frowned, suddenly suspicious that James might be leading her into a trap.

"Um." James scratched his right ear and scrunched up his face. "I was just wondering… I mean, you wouldn't choose a different house just because Alex is an idiot, would you?" Grace bit her lip and didn't say anything. James looked at her expression and frowned. "I dunno. He… uh…" Grace blinked as James fumbled with the door handle to the last compartment. "I think… you should give _Gryffindor_ a chance." He fixed Grace with a very hard stare, as if trying to convey some deeper meaning with his words. Whatever he meant to say, it was lost on Grace, who merely blinked in confusion. James threw open the door without looking inside first. Two girls were giggling to one another inside, one dark skinned with beautiful ebony hair, the other mousey, thin and nervous. Albus was nowhere to be seen. James frowned, and Grace guessed that neither of them was his cousin either.

"Hi," he said. "Do you know where Albus and Rose went?" The two girls looked at one another and giggled again. The timid looking girl went red to the roots of her hair as the ebony haired girl replied.

"Rosie said she wanted to investigate Scorpius Malfoy and dragged Al away with her."

"Oh, really?" James looked perplexed and withdrew his head from the compartment. He thought for a moment before sticking his head back in again. "Any idea where his compartment might be?"

"I think it should be in that direction," the mousy haired girl said, pointing back the way they had come. James smiled a grin that showed off every single tooth in his mouth and closed the door. Then he looked at Grace with a scowl.

"I could have guessed that much." Grace did a double take. She hadn't expected James to fake gratitude to a fan. The fact that they were in the last compartment meant that of course Scorpius Malfoy's compartment would be in the opposite direction. "Well, unless you particularly want to spend your time with that duet of giggles, I'd appreciate your help tracking whatshisface down." Grace pursed her lips.

"Isn't Malfoy… That's not a very common name, is it?" Everyone had heard of the Malfoy family. James pursed his lips.

"You know… they're not completely bad, Malfoys. Dad said. I asked him last year." James drummed his fingers on his thighs as he peered through the windows of the compartments they passed by. "Hey, Grace, if you do become mates with Albus… well, he doesn't really know about Dad."

"What do you mean?" she asked, totally amazed. "Doesn't… don't all the newspapers talk about it?"

"No, I mean… obviously he knows Dad's the head Auror, but he doesn't… We weren't raised hearing stories about dad vanquishing Voldemort single-handed. It wasn't like that. The way Dad tells it… he doesn't really take the glory. He used to say that it was the Order of the Phoenix who took Voldemort down, and that he was a part of the Order. Nothing about how he died to save everyone. He doesn't like to talk about any of it beyond how great the people who died were. How many sacrifices were made. Mainly it was Uncle Ron who told us stories about it, and Uncle Ron's a bit… he exaggerates a lot."

"Oh." She tilted her head to the side and tried to imagine what it would be like to be Harry Potter's child. What a thing to live up to. She wouldn't change her dad for anyone.

"Ahah!" James cried as they found Scorpius Malfoy's compartment three carriages down. They must have walked straight past it on the way up. Through the window Grace saw a pale skinned boy with an extremely pointed chin in the middle of an argument with a witch who was already in her Hogwarts robes. She had frizzy brown hair, freckles and bright blue eyes along with rather unfortunately large front teeth that showed as she scowled at Scorpius. Behind the arguing pair, a beautiful girl with exotic, delicate features tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and scowled at the brunette. A skinny wizard hovered awkwardly in the doorway. His hair was brown and stuck up all over the place, his eyes were bright green and made rather larger by the glasses on his face. He looked very pale. Almost travel-sick.

James swung the door open, in time for them to catch Rose Weasley stamping her foot.

"What's so funny about Mum's job?"

"I'm not trying to insult her job," Scorpius said slowly, thinking carefully about his words. Grace saw his ears had gone bright pink, and wondered if he was embarrassed or angry. "Hermione Weasley's done a lot for the rights of magical creatures, but house elves didn't want help."

"Right!" Rose said, drawing herself up. "I see! You're an unthinkingly prejudiced pureblood like that! Is _that_ why dad told me not to get too friendly with you?" The blonde in the compartment snorted. James glanced at Grace.

"You know," he muttered in an undertone, pointing at the people inside. "I usually get a better reception than this."

"Unthinking prejudiced pureblood!" the blonde quoted, the tone of her voice becoming steadily louder and louder. "What about your dad? Saying that when he doesn't even _know_ Scorpius!" Rose went scarlet.

"Do _not_ insult my dad, Zabini! He's worth ten of yours!"

"Take that back, Weasley!" the Zabini girl shouted, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "My dad's gone through a lot, even if he didn't save the world as a teenager! Most people's parents _didn't_, and if you're _prejudiced_ about that then you're really going to struggle to make friends!" Rose's face blossomed into splotchy red patches. Grace watched James' face turn more severe as the exchange went on.

"Quiet!" he bellowed, and Rose Weasley jumped a foot in the air with fright before turning sheepishly to face him.

"Hello James," she whispered, swallowing. James grabbed Grace's wrist and dragged her into the compartment before slamming the door behind him.

"Sit down," he snapped, and Grace stared at his face. With all the blood in his cheeks, he looked kind of cute. She was seeing so many new sides to him today. "This is Grace Hart," he introduced, causing Grace to blush. The other four in the compartment stared intermittently between her and James with some surprise – they'd been expecting a lecture. "She's a first year too.'

"Hi," she squeaked, wishing desperately that James would do something to reduce the awkwardness in the room. Rose was sitting down next to Scorpius, and the blonde Zabini girl looked ready to leap across the table to murder her the Muggle way.

"You've all made a truly awful first impression," James muttered, crossing his arms. "You're first-years – you're the last people who should be making judgements. What do you _know_? Rose, you're clever, what're you doing picking fights with strangers? And Albus, don't just stand there and let her rant, you know better than that!" Albus Potter looked even greener in the face than he had before. He looked at the floor, his face flushed, and Grace felt a wave of compassion for him.

"Um," Rose said, and hesitated. It was the most embarrassed noise Grace had ever heard. "I think… maybe I should apologise." Grace realised Rose was blushing horribly. "I'm so sorry. I get a bit… I take after my mum, but I have Dad's temper. It's an awful combination, I'm afraid. I was just curious."

"We didn't mean to start a fight," Albus mumbled. He looked sheepishly at the other two in the compartment. "Sorry." The Zabini girl sniffed, and Scorpius looked stony-faced. James nodded and looked at the other two who mumbled something that might have been an apology.

"Well then, if you're all sorry…" He sighed and looked at Albus, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "There are two girls waiting for you to return to your compartment," he joked, winking at Albus. "I wouldn't keep them waiting. See ya, Grace." Although he had been joking, Grace thought his smile was the same fake toothy grin from earlier, and her suspicions were confirmed when James slammed the compartment door behind him. Grace swallowed.

"C-" She had to clear her throat to get the words out. "Can I sit with you?"

They considered her, sizing her up to see if she were a threat. She fidgeted uncomfortably, and blushed under the Zabini girl's hostile gaze. Scorpius shifted down his side of the compartment, but she couldn't tell if he was making room for her or trying to put some distance between him and Rose. He stared out of the window, which Grace thought was an odd thing to do when they were still surrounded by fog, and there wasn't anything to see out of the window but a shroud of white mist.

"I'm Celia," the girl said, pointing first at herself and then at her companion and the other two. "This is Scorpius. Albus and Rose."

"Grace," she responded, still hovering in the doorway. Celia Zabini hadn't said whether she could sit down yet or not, and since the others didn't feel like speaking she wasn't sure what to do.

"Sit where you like. Are you Muggleborn?"

"No… I'm… both my parents…" Celia nodded before she could complete the sentence. She looked disappointed. Grace sank down into the seat beside Rose.

"You'll know who we are then," Celia surmised, scowling. "It would be nice if you could keep an open mind." Rose frowned, deeply aggrieved by Celia's comment.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, beginning to look a little teary. "I didn't mean to say… I mean – you aren't your parents anymore than I am mine… You don't have to be Slytherins unless you want to be!"

"What if we want to be?" Celia asked suddenly, fiercely. Rose's mouth snapped shut. Grace was surprised. She'd never met anyone who _wanted_ to be a Slytherin. "What's wrong with Slytherin? Merlin was a Slytherin. Did you know that? You don't have to be evil to be great."

"Slytherin was my parents" house," Scorpius said suddenly, looking the four of them instead of the window. "My grandparents" house. We're an ambitious family. We always have been." His expression became slightly pained. "I'm not saying they were right. They did some awful things..." He glanced at Rose who was looking at him sympathetically. "They were scared, and they followed what _their_ parents taught them, and I'm sorry they had their beliefs. But if I'm a Slytherin too, it doesn't mean I share their sentiments."

"Then why do you want to be Slytherin?" Albus asked, leaning forward so that he had more of a presence than before. "Why deal with what other people think? The Sorting Hat lets you choose."

"Slytherin has become associated with the worst qualities of its most famous pupils," Celia muttered, exchanging a glance with Scorpius. "We want to prove that it doesn't matter where you come from. Just because you're a Slytherin, it doesn't make you evil. It doesn't mean you're a Death Eater.'

"We want to change the way people think," Scorpius explained. "Change ourselves, and the school at the same time. We…'

"We promised," Celia finished for him when he lost his train of thought. "We're going to do it, no matter what." Grace thought that when authors wrote about eyes burning with determination they were picturing Celia's expression.

"That's…" she started, trying to figure out what to say.

"_Amazing_," Rose said, grabbing Scorpius' hand. "Seriously, I'm so sorry. You're brilliant!" Celia scowled as Rose showered Scorpius with praise. It had obviously been a joint idea, but Rose only had eyes for Scorpius. Grace looked at Albus, who was sitting across from her, and tilted her head to the side. The other three were certainly much louder than him, but that didn't make them any more interesting. Albus didn't look half so travel sick anymore. His mouth was slightly parted, and his bright green eyes were wide behind his glasses. It looked like he'd had a revelation.

"Are you okay?" Grace wondered.

"What?" he croaked then cleared his throat. "Sorry. Yes. I'm fine. Just…" Grace smiled. She felt like she could be good friends with Albus. "I think you should go for it," he said, clearly addressing both Celia and Scorpius. The two exchanged a look and then grinned. Rose looked between them and frowned. She pushed a frizzy strand of brown hair behind her ear and stood up.

"We should get back to our compartment." Albus blinked and readjusted his glasses, but nodded.

"It was nice to meet you," he said, standing up.

"And sorry, again," Rose reiterated her apology and disappeared. Albus hesitated and looked at Grace.

"What are you planning to do?" he asked. "You know James right?"

"Not really," Grace rushed to explain. She wasn't going to be mistaken for James' fan. "It was a matter of circumstance. I live next to Alex Carlsdale, so…"

"Oh." Albus stared at her. "What house do you want to be in?"

"I… haven't decided yet," she replied, honestly. He nodded.

"Quite right." He smiled and waved at the three of them before following in Rose's wake.

* * *

It was maybe half an hour later when the compartment door opened again.

"There you are!"

Grace's heartbeat sped up several notches and she prayed her blush wasn't too obvious. She tried her best to smile at Timothy without letting her right eye do that odd twitching thing it did when she was nervous.

"Hi!" He was in his school robes already, and she saw a shiny prefect badge in blue pinned to his lapel.

"Making friends already," he said, scrutinizing the other two in the carriage. "I don't know why I was so worried. You're doing just fine, aren't you?"

"These are Celia and Scorpius," she introduced, and turned to the other two who had tensed up again. "This is Timothy, my neighbour."

"We've met before," Timothy said, beaming and holding out his hand first to Scorpius and then to Celia in greeting. "At some second-cousin-five-times-removed's wedding or some such." Grace nodded. All the wizarding families are related in some way. The Carlsdales were one of them. Grace was not. Both her parents may have been magical, but her grandparents were not. At least, she didn't think so. Her mum's side of the family had a habit of dying early. She'd never met them. "Anyway, I'm glad to see you're fine, I was just checking in on you since I was worried you and Alex might have killed one another by now." Grace blushed. "Anyway, I'll see you in the great hall. And don't worry too much about the sorting, I'm sure you'll be fine."

He left without a backward glance before she could say a proper goodbye. She wasn't even aware of how red her face had become because she was so thrilled to have seen him and was smiling happily to herself.

"You look ridiculous," Celia said, but she was laughing in a friendly manner that made Grace feel more at home. "I'm guessing you like him? It's written all over your face."

"He was worried about you," Scorpius said. "About us being with you." Grace was surprised. "Didn't you notice? He made sure to ask if you were fine being in the same carriage as us. He's more open minded than most, but he was still cautious."

"I'd like to say you're over thinking it," Celia said, frowning, but she looked a little unsure. She shook her head. "The point is he took Grace's word for it," she concluded, sitting up straighter and looking a little happier. "So now he'll tell other people that he thinks we're alright."

"But we'll have to keep being alright," he said. "Don't you agree?" Grace frowned. She remembered what James had said about Malfoys not being that bad, that Harry Potter was the one who'd told him, and she remembered how angry he'd been to find his brother and cousin already in the middle of an argument with them. Maybe if James hadn't said that, she'd have gone off with Albus and Rose. She would have liked to know Albus better. Rose, on the other hand… So far Celia Zabini was the only girl Grace had met and _liked_ wholeheartedly.

"You know," she started. "I'm sure he'd think you were alright even if I wasn't here, it's just that he'd have found out a little later than just now. It's not like he'd disagree."

Scorpius didn't look convinced, but they were all distracted by the arrival of a trolley full of sweets. A kind woman with a round face asked if they'd like something and Celia quickly shook her head no, but Grace noticed she wasn't taking her eyes off of the pumpkin pasties. She grinned and ordered one for herself, while Scorpius invested in some chocolate frogs. The cart moved on and Grace quickly tore a bit off of her pasty and handed it to Celia with a smile.

"You wanted some, right?" Celia blushed, and Scorpius laughed.

"Your grandmother will never know," he cajoled her.

"But she wants me to go on a diet!" Celia wailed. Grace's eyes widened and she stared Celia up and down. There was nothing about Celia that looked even remotely chunky. "She's a very famous wizarding fashion designer," she whispered to Grace, looking awkward. "I always wanted to model for her, ever since I was little. But she says I need to be tall and skinny. I wanted to drink those height-inducing potions but my mother won't let me. She says they'll ruin my natural progression, whatever that means."

Something brown shot in front of Grace's eyes and she yelped and jumped back with fright. Scorpius laughed.

"Sorry, I was distracted by the card and it got away from me."

"Oh, but it won't be any good once it's been on the floor," Celia said, and Grace smiled as Celia took his distraction as the signal to take the half a pasty she'd still been holding out to her. "Quickly, Grace, catch it!"

She bent down and scooped up the chocolate frog as it made its desperate attempt for freedom, and handed it to Scorpius.

"What card was it?" she wondered. He passed it over to her without commenting.

_"Famous Witches and Wizards  
_**_Harry Potter  
_**_1980-present  
The Boy Who Lived, only known survivor of the Avada Kedavra curse and conqueror of Lord Voldemort, also known as Tom Riddle, Harry Potter joined the reshuffled Auror Department under Kingsley Shacklebolt at age 17, rising to become Head of said department in 2007."_

"Oh, I have this one," she said and passed it to Celia. Only then did she remember what James had said about how little Albus knew. Oh well, she thought as she munched on her pasty. He was bound to figure it out eventually.

* * *

Several hours later Grace realised how dark it was outside, and wondered when the fog had lifted. They would have to get changed into their robes before long, which meant she would have to go and get her robes from her trunk.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Celia asked when Grace had explained the situation to the two of them. Grace shook her head.

"I don't think you'd enjoy meeting Alex," she explained. "He's definitely the type to make bad jokes about Slytherin, and I don't want him to ruin your mood."

"If you're sure," she said, but she looked rather uncertain. Grace pondered that as she made her way back to Alex's compartment. Celia had at first seemed to be incredibly self-assured. Now, on getting to know her better, Grace considered that a lot of that might have been a front. She took it as a sign of friendship that Celia would let her see the uncertainty she usually tried to hide.

She knocked on the compartment door and smiled at Cathy when she pulled it open.

"Grace! Hello again, have you come for your robes?" Grace nodded. "Well, you have good timing. We'd just kicked the boys out to get changed ourselves."

"Who did the charms on your trunk?" Beth asked, running a hand through her blonde hair before reaching to help Grace and Cathy get the trunk down.

"Alex was very angry that he couldn't open it," Cathy explained, grinning.

"Oh," Grace crossed her arms and scowled. "I _knew_ it. Timothy and his dad helped me." The trunk simply wouldn't open if anyone other than Grace tried to get inside. "Sometimes I think Alex is way too predictable, don't you think?" She pulled the lid open and rummaged around for her robes. Beth pursed her lips.

"It's only because he likes- OW!" Cathy yelped as Beth stamped on her foot. Grace stared at them wide-eyed, wondering what on earth she'd missed.

"I know he likes to torment me," she said, sending Beth an odd look. "It's not really a secret. He's been this way ever since… well, he's never liked how much time I spend with Timothy." Grace knew she was blushing but she couldn't help that. "He used to get so jealous that Timothy would spend his time with me. It's just gotten worse over time. You know, the first bit of magic I ever did was to throw mud in Alex's face?" Beth made a choking sound, and Cathy cackled.

"No, I didn't!" she exclaimed. "When was that?"

"Um…" Grace looked between the two of them, feeling a little uncomfortable. She shouldn't really be telling this story to his friends. She knew it wasn't something Alex was proud of, and as much as they didn't like one another, Grace wasn't going to go out of her way to embarrass him. It had happened some time after Timothy received his Hogwarts letter. She'd been crying because he was going away and Timothy had charmed a ladybug to spell her name for her. He was trying to cheer her up. When Alex had seen this, he'd squashed the ladybug flat. An instant later Alex was covered head-to-toe in thick, sticky mud. It was the first and only time to date that Grace had shouted at Alex that she hated him. She didn't really _hate _him. That was too strong a word for their mutual dislike. But in that moment, her dislike had escalated into a severe hatred. "Sometime ago," she commented noncommittally. She turned back to her robes and started to get changed. The other two immediately spun to face the opposite wall, and when Grace glanced curiously in their direction she thought they were blushing. Alex had the weirdest friends. They helped her put the trunk back up on the shelf when she was done. Grace noticed Errata was gone from her cage and smiled.

"Thanks for the help," she said, and left the compartment. She was half way down the corridor when she noticed Beth and Cathy walking the other way. She froze, staring at them. They looked surprised.

"Grace?" Beth called as Grace turned on her heel and stormed back the way she had come. She slammed the compartment door back as violently as she could and glared at the two inside. She knew, without a doubt, that these two were Alex and James. She didn't know how they'd done it, and she didn't know what the point of it was, but she was enraged. She chose the words she thought would injure their stupid Gryffindor prides the most and bellowed:

"I would _rather_ be in _Slytherin_ than _share_ a house with _you_!" She had one moment to capture their shocked and horrified expressions before she slammed the compartment door again and ran back down the corridor past Beth and Cathy who looked incredibly confused. She brushed at her eyes. She was _not_ crying. Behind her she head the compartment door open again, and Beth shouted:

"James! Alex! What on _earth_ are you doing?"

"Grace!" A breathless Cathy grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. Grace looked behind her to see the other Cathy with Beth. This then was the fake one. In the compartment Cathy had been the more gleeful of the two, the one talking about Alex. "Grace, stop, please. We only wanted to-"

"Leave me alone, James!" Grace snapped, shaking him off of her. She could guess that it was all an attempt to get into her trunk. She wasn't stupid. But she was, she'd really thought James, at least, was going to be nice to her today. "The two of you… Why do you _hate_ me?" The fake Cathy didn't say anything, and Grace, seeing that he didn't deny it, ran away. She threw herself into Celia's arms when she reached their compartment.

"What's happened?" Scorpius demanded, instantly by their side.

"Nothing," Grace sobbed. "I really don't want to talk about it. Alex is… he's… Him and James…" She couldn't really explain why she was so upset. They hadn't exactly done anything _to_ her, but she hated being tricked, and she wished she understood why they had it out for her.

* * *

An announcement explained five minutes from the station that the Hogwarts Express was arriving into _Hogsmeade_ and students were to leave their luggage on the train. Scorpius felt a little anxious about leaving Archimedes, his screech owl, in his cage, and so let him go hunting outside. Dressed in their new robes they alighted onto the platform and Grace was gob smacked by the sheer number of students swilling around them, most of whom towered over her. She thought she spotted Timothy, but the older students pushed past and she was no longer certain. She was glad not to see Alex or James.

"First years, over here!" A voice bellowed, and she responded to the voice of authority like a moth to a flame, holding tightly to Celia's arm so as not to get stranded. The voice belonged to a giant of a man in a moleskin overcoat. His beetle black eyes peered out at them from a mass of greying hair that was at once his hair and his beard. "This way!"

"Hiya, Hagrid!" Grace noticed that Albus and Rose were beaming up at the man, and he greeted them in turn.

"'Ello Rose, 'ello Albus." Hagrid let out a little sigh, which sounded like a gust of wind due to his size. "Seems like only yesterday it was yer parents I was meeting here."

Hagrid led them down a very steep and narrow path. The ground all around them was cast into darkness.

"You'll be getting yer first view of Hogwarts any second now," Hagrid's voice boomed from in front of them. Grace looked up, her breath catching in her throat as the multi-turreted castle came into view high on the mountain on the other side of the large lake that had opened out in front of them. She thought it was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. Scorpius let out a breath.

"Cool," he whispered, and she grinned at him.

Hagrid led them to the edge of a lake, and Grace noticed there were lots of little boats bobbing up and down in the water. "No more than four to a boat." Hagrid took one boat to himself. No one joined Grace, Celia and Scorpius in their boat, but Grace noticed that Rose and Albus were joined by the two girls she had seen in their compartment. She couldn't help noticing that Albus looked rather uncomfortable, and Rose rather miffed by the intrusion. "All here?" Hargid checked. "Forward!"

"Merlin," Celia said, wriggling slightly in her seat. "I'm much more nervous than I thought I would be.'

"Would your mum be angry if you got into Slytherin?" Grace asked curiously as the boats started drifting over the water. Scorpius snorted. Celia had confessed earlier that her mum had begged her to choose a different house before she got on the train.

"Raz is in Slytherin," Celia confided. "So she wouldn't exactly mind, just-"

"Erazimus is her brother," Scorpius explained.

"She'll be disappointed. She almost cried when he was sorted. It would be easier for my parents if we didn't turn out to carry on the tradition, but it's not like either of us plan to be like them."

"Our dads were friends when they were in Hogwarts. They're the ones who had to be in Slytherin no matter what. Their only reaction is going to be a sigh and some mutter about how it was probably inevitable in any case."

"My mum's just a bit sensitive," Celia tried to explain. "It's alright for Scorpius, his mum was a Slytherin too, but Mum was in Ravenclaw… I don't know. I'm never sure exactly what she thinks. I'm worried she'll become disgusted with us."

"It'll be alright," Scorpius said. "Your parents fight a lot, but my dad says they're not going to break apart any time soon. You worry too much."

"How-?" Celia frowned, blonde eyebrows standing out against her dark skin. "Why did he say that?" Scorpius shrugged.

"I asked. Last time, when you were worried after Erazimus was sorted." Grace caught Celia's blush, and smiled quietly to herself. She was a little jealous that these two were so close, but at the same time, she was happy to have found some friends.

"Duck now," Hagrid said, as the boats reached the cliff and passed beneath a curtain of Ivy, down a dark tunnel and into an underground harbour. After checking the boats Hagrid led them up a dark rising passageway culminating in damp grass. They collected on the stone steps as Hagrid knocked on the huge oak doors. They were opened by an excitable and enthusiastic little man with a neat white moustache, and white hair that was combed to perfection, probably to disguise the receding hairline.

"That must be Flitwick," Scorpius said as Hagrid handed them over and they were lead into the entrance hall, which was larger than any room Grace had ever been in, and lit by flickering torches on the walls. She couldn't even see the ceiling. Most of the hall was taken up by a gigantic marble staircase, but Flitwick led them off to the right into a small empty room next to a larger door from which loud noises emanated. "He's been teaching here for _ages_."

"Some people say he's part-" Celia started whispering, but was cut off as the little man began to speak, his voice squeaky with excitement.

"First years! I am Professor Flitwick, Charms master and deputy headmaster. In a minute, I shall lead you to the great hall, where you shall be sorted into the four Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own unique traits, and while you are in Hogwarts your house will act like your family. You will eat at your house tables, sleep in your house common rooms. Any acts deserving of merit will earn your house points, and anything requiring disciplinary action shall lose your house points. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the house cup. I will come back for you when we are ready."

As soon as the doors closed behind him, whispering exploded all about them. Grace realised with a start that Albus had ended up next to her in their walk up from the harbour and smiled at him.

"You look like you're feeling better," she said because it was true. He had lost the tinge of green he'd had when she'd first met him.

"Yeah," he nodded, and smiled back. "I'm still nervous though. Rose says she wants to be in Ravenclaw," he said quickly, avoiding Celia and Scorpius' eyes as they started to scrutinise him. Grace was intrigued, and noticed that Rose was now in deep conversation with the ebony haired girl who'd shared their boat with them. The thin, mousy haired girl caught her eye, blushed and looked away.

"And where do you-?" Grace started to ask, but the doors opened, and Flitwick beckoned them through, and they all trekked after him like lambs.

Grace's mouth dropped open. The sheer size of the room was staggering, the ceiling beautiful and she heard Rose explain loudly that it was enchanted, but what caught her attention the most, more than the thousands of candles hovering above each of the four brightly coloured houses, was the see-through people, _ghosts_, floating through the air. Celia laughed quietly.

"Close your mouth," she whispered. Grace blushed. She glanced at the four colourful tables, and picked out Ravenclaw from the blue robes Timothy wore, and Gryffindor's red after James and Alex. She was alarmed to realise that Alex was watching her, and James was muttering to him. She stuck out her tongue at them, and this time it was Albus who laughed, probably because he'd been looking in that direction for his brother.

"Did you say he was your neighbour?" Albus double-checked, looking a bit surprised as a thought occurred to him.

"Unfortunately," Grace grumbled.

"That's a coincidence."

"Is it?" she whispered, a little taken aback. "How so?"

"Witches and wizards living right next to each other in a non-wizarding town." She'd never really thought about it like that. It _was_ strange, wasn't it? But was she over thinking it because Albus had called it a coincidence? Or was it just that?

Silence fell over the hall, and Grace became aware of a crumpled and burnt old hat, sitting on a stool in front of them. Was this the Sorting Hat Scorpius had spoken of? It didn't look like much. Then a seam on its side opened up, forming a mouth, and it started to sing.

_"I may not look impressive,  
But I'm more than what I seem.  
Through me, the founders live  
And pick students for their dream._

_I will judge your character  
By rifling through your head.  
I'll weigh in every factor  
And place you where I'm led._

_If you are courageous,  
And strong-willed to the last,  
Then Gryffindor's the house for you  
Where the brave are cast._

_Don't be swayed by tales of old  
That Slytherin's your foe.  
They are merely crafty folk  
Who reap more than they sow._

_If you thirst for knowledge  
Then to Ravenclaw with you!  
There dwell the wise and learned  
Whose wit always renew._

_Or even in patient Hufflepuff  
You might find your friends.  
These loyal, dedicated wizards  
Find rewards are their own ends._

_I'm ready to oblige you  
So try me and don't forget  
I know what I am doing  
I haven't been wrong yet!"_

Grace knew it was meant to be reassuring, but a horrible sick anticipation filled her stomach as she listened. She swallowed hard, trying to quell her nerves. Celia grabbed and squeezed her hand.

"I will call you up one by one," Flitwick said. "When your name is called please come and try on the hat. Aberessy, Samuel."

The curly haired blonde didn't look nearly as scared as Grace would be were she to go first. The hat was too large for any of their heads, Grace realised as the brim of it dropped well past his eyes, leaving only his very round chin on display to everyone else. A minute later, the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" and Timothy's table exploded into cheers of joy.

It was the standard reaction, Grace soon learnt, as "Ackerley, Linn" became a Gryffindor, "Barns, Selina" a Hufflepuff and "Boot, Francis" another Gryffindor. "Bletchley, Harriet" a freckle faced girl with hair as blonde as Celia's became the first Slytherin, and Grace thought the Slytherin table cheered twice as loudly as the other tables, as if determined to out-do them all.

"Brooklehurst, Tobias" became a Hufflepuff, then "Bucket, Marlowe" a black haired, dark skinned boy with a wide white toothed grin became a Slytherin and was immediately joined by another boy, "Cauldwell, Sebastian", whose brown hair was cut so short it became impossible to miss the too-large ears that stuck out ridiculously on either side of his head.

"Colbert, Connie." The skinny mousy haired girl who'd shared a boat with Rose and Albus squeaked, until the ebony haired girl poked her, and she stumbled her way up to the hat. After just a second, however, the hat was shouting, "RAVENCLAW!", and she was stumbling away again.

Rose beamed, and shared a grin with the other girl, and Albus frowned. Grace wondered what was wrong. Perhaps he'd hoped that Rose would become a Gryffindor with him.

"Corner, Marinette" became a Gryffindor, and then "Coy, Sarah" became a Hufflepuff. Two more Ravenclaws, "Derrick, Ruby" and "Gosen, Gary", joined their table, and then Grace's heart almost stopped as she suddenly heard:

"Hart, Grace."

She hadn't realised it was going to be her turn so soon. She was sure all the blood had just drained out of her face. She took a shaky breath and Celia squeezed her hand. She glanced at Scorpius and saw him nod at her. She felt a little better. She'd told the two of them she would like to be in their house, no matter which house they chose, and made them reassure her they would definitely be Slytherins because she knew she'd be sorted before them.

"I'll be last," Celia whispered, remembering this, "so make sure you save a place for me!"

Grace's legs felt wobbly as she walked to the stool. She felt it would have been easier to crawl. But the worst bit was as she sat down, for two seconds before the hat dropped over her eyes as she saw all the other students staring up at her. It was terrifying, her hands shock as she gripped onto the seat on either side of her. She had decided not to look at Alex. Or Timothy. Or she would probably change her mind.

The tatty old hat slipped down over her eyes blocking everyone from view, and she breathed out, trying to relax a little. Albus had said you could choose. She hoped that was true. She wanted to be with Celia. She wanted to be a Slytherin.

"Slytherin, eh?" She jumped at the dusty old voice that had crept into her head. "Oh, well… I suppose." But she couldn't help wondering if it would suit her. "Second thoughts?" the hat laughed. "How calculated. I would have preferred Hufflepuff, but Slytherin house will suit your tastes very well, Miss Hart. Your opinions on boys aside." She blushed slightly beneath the hat. It chuckled, and then she heard it shout, "SLYTHERIN!"

She took off the hat, and handed it back to Flitwick with a sheepish smile. She was still blushing she knew, and she grinned at Celia on her way to the Slytherin table. Scorpius winked at her. Albus' lips were slightly parted, and his bright green eyes had widened, and she wondered on that as she sat down beside the very blonde Harriet Bletchley, opposite the grinning Marlowe Bucket and unfortunate looking Sebastian Cauldwell, who reintroduced themselves.

She didn't dare look over to the Ravenclaw table to see Timothy's reaction. Nor did she glance at Alex and James. She didn't want to know what she would see there. She liked to imagine that they were shocked she'd kept her word, but maybe Alex was smug. Maybe he'd think that she deserved to be here. A wave of resentment arose inside her. Well, she did deserve to be here, that was the point. Slytherin was a better house than Alex would ever know. Stupid, _stupid_ Alex. Three Hufflepuffs later, after "Jenkins, Coren", "Larken, Mickey" and "Lyne, Tallulah" had sat down, she noticed the pretty ebony haired friend of Rose's go up, and sure enough "MacDogal, Zara" became a Ravenclaw.

"Malfoy, Scorpius." Grace's heart did a little jump. Scorpius pushed by Albus on his way to the stool, but Grace saw Celia apologise for him. Grace could imagine Scorpius was carried away with expectation. To Scorpius, she imagined, being sorted into Slytherin must be like achieving his destiny. It took longer than Grace had thought it would, but eventually the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" and she was one of the first on her feet to celebrate. He winked again as he sat down next to her.

"Fancy seeing you here," he said, and she rolled her eyes, barely noticing as "Meadows, Claire" and "Mendip, Maxwell" became Gryffindors in light of his surprising confession, "Bloody hat tried to put me in Gryffindor."

"Really?" she asked, not that she was particularly surprised, just intrigued. She could only imagine how that conversation would have gone.

"Yeah, it kept asking if I was sure," he said, rolling his eyes. "As if I would have asked if I wasn't sure." Grace hoped she wasn't blushing. Scorpius really was very different to her. Almost completely the opposite if she was honest.

"Montague, Belinda" went up to be sorted, and Grace barely looked at her until the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" and she came to sit down opposite Scorpius. She was a very chubby girl, with a huge chin, completely disproportionate to the rest of her face and body, but she smiled at them nervously, and Grace greeted her back before looking back to Scorpius again, and wondering if she should tell him she was strictly a Slytherin, or possibly a Hufflepuff. She wondered what his reaction would be. "Moon, Coraline" became a Gryffindor, and "Nolen, Matthew" a Ravenclaw as she debated with herself. Then "Nott, Daisy" became a Hufflepuff, and Scorpius' intake of breath made up her mind for her. Better not to admit to it. The Notts were an old wizarding family, she knew.

"How many of these students do you already know, do you reckon?" she wondered. He grinned at her.

"Countless millions. I'm probably related to half of them," he said as "Pentworth, Brian" became a Ravenclaw. On her other side, Harriet Bletchley looked intrigued, and tossed one of her two ponytails over her shoulder as she turned to talk to them.

"How come you know so many of them?" she asked. Scorpius shrugged.

"Wizarding families grow up together," he muttered, and Grace noticed the way he avoided using the word _Pureblood_. Grace was about to ask something, but lost her question as the next name was read out.

"Potter, Albus." A ripple went through the hall, of people whispering his surname, and Grace was certain Flitwick was so excited he almost dropped the hat as Albus walked towards him. He looked green again. Grace bit her lip, and grabbed Scorpius' arm to stop him talking.

"What?" he asked. "You don't think-?" But he read her expectations in her eyes and her body position without her having to explain it to him. Scoripus frowned and leaned back to get a better look at Albus. "Really? But his brother…"

"But Rose-" Scorpius' eyes widened as the hat dropped down over Albus' eyes.

"Was that what he meant?" She nodded, unaware that she was holding her breath. Scorpius had noticed, and would have told her, but he was rather distracted by the idea himself.

"I could be wrong," she said, but Albus was certainly taking a long time to be sorted. Maybe she wasn't.

"What are you two talking about?" Belinda Montague demanded, and Grace couldn't help thinking that the chubby girl had an incredibly unfortunate nasal voice on top of all the puppy fat. She couldn't really be bothered to explain it to her, and Scorpius didn't either, because the next moment the hat had made its decision.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Grace couldn't help letting out a squeal of excitement, but it was nothing compared to the general reaction of the Slytherin table. She'd never heard yells so loud. It was almost deafening. Scorpius' mouth had dropped open along with a lot of other people's.

"I don't bloody believe it," he told Grace, but he grinned as Albus walked down the table towards them. "I didn't think you had it in you," he told Albus, as Albus sat down next to Belinda. Grace elbowed Scorpius gently, and reached out a hand to Albus, unable to contain her smile.

"Hello again," she said, far too breathily, although perhaps Scorpius was the only one who would have noticed enough to tell her that.

"Hi, Grace," he said, smiling and shaking first her hand and then Scorpius' as the Slytherins all around them patted him on the back, still celebrating loudly. In fact, silence only fell again when golden sparks, like fireworks, burst from the headmaster's wand.

At least Grace assumed he was the headmaster. He was sitting in the large ornate chair in the middle of what she had assumed was the staff table, where she now noticed Hagrid sat too. The high stool on the headmaster's left was empty, and Grace realised it must be Flitwick's chair. The headmaster, she finally remembered his name was Morgan Percepal, had long dark hair, and the palest blue eyes imaginable. In fact, she was a little freaked out by them, it looked like he was in the middle of some kind of fit, with only the whites of his eyes showing, they were so pale. It wasn't a natural colour. It unsettled her. He wasn't tall, but he seemed imposing because he had very broad muscular shoulders, and the only grey hairs to be seen were gathered in a streak on the right side of his very long beard, just below the corner of his lip. It made her think that he'd just dribbled paint.

The hall reduced in noise, and Grace looked back over the first years waiting to be sorted, wondering what they had made of him. She caught Rose's eye, who smiled sadly at her, and went on to look at Albus, only to realise he was staring over her shoulder, the smile gone from his face. She unthinkingly followed his gaze, and met Alex's next to James'. Her smile evaporated in much the same manner. Alex was glaring at her, but that was nothing new, she was unhappy at the blank look of shock on James' face as he stared at Albus. For all his jokes, Grace realised, James had never considered even for a moment that Albus wouldn't be joining him in Gryffindor. She wondered if Albus wasn't regretting his decision. Especially as "Stoke, Roger" became a Gryffindor and took the place Albus would otherwise be sitting in.

"Cheer up," Scorpius said, as "Su, Vivian" became a Ravenclaw. Both of them looked at him, and his ears went pink. He rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly. "The Sorting's nearly over," he said, and Grace realised he was right. With "Thomas, Phillip" and "Turpin, Todd" becoming Gryffindors, and "Uglow, Paula" currently being sorted, there were only eight of them left. She watched as two dark haired twins, brother and sister, bickered quietly in line. Their hair was the same length, short for the girl, long for the boy.

"Would you stop being so pathetic," the girl was hissing, and Grace pursed her lips. She would hate it if someone had said that just before she was sorted. The Sorting Hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!" and Paula Uglow ran to the canary yellow table smiling broadly.

"Warrington, Cecil" Flitwick said, and to Grace's surprise it was the boy she'd been watching who climbed his way to the stool. He looked very young, she thought, realising he was quite short when she saw how far his feet were floating off the ground. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The girl rolled her eyes, and Grace frowned before she realised that the girl was smiling warmly at her brother, and he was smiling sheepishly back. Grace made a mental note not to judge other people's families when she had no idea what was going on.

"Warrington, Wedby" Flitwick announced, and the girl took the place of her brother as he went to sit down. After a few moments the Sorting Hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" and Wedby Warrington went to sit on Harriet Bletchley's other side.

"Weasley, Rose" Flitwick called, and Grace saw Albus' head shoot up, and followed suit. She was just as certain as he was that she would be a Ravenclaw, but it seemed like Rose sat there for a very long time before the Sorting Hat finally gave in and shouted "RAVENCLAW!"

To her shock she thought she'd seen the glimmer of tears in Rose's eyes as she went to sit down, but it was hard to tell from across the room. "Whitby, Norton" soon joined her, then "Winters, Jeremy" became a Slytherin, and trudged to their table, throwing himself grumpily into the seat opposite Wedby Warrington. He barely looked up as Sebastian Cauldwell and Marlowe Bucket tried to greet him. Instead he sank low into his chair, sulking, entirely mute. Grace noticed Scorpius rolling his eyes, but she smiled at Albus when he looked concerned. In the mean time "Wood, Ola," had become a Gryffindor, and "Yemming, David," a Hufflepuff. It was with some surprise that she heard "Zabini, Celia," and looked back up to the top of the table. Celia was the last student to be sorted, but Grace was shocked that the sorting ceremony was really over already. Was it really so simple to sort forty students into four houses? But as the Sorting Hat instantly shouted "SLYTHERIN!" she realised that somehow it must be.

Celia skipped down the table to them, and Grace saw her hug a tall brown haired boy she took to be her brother, before she joined them, breathless, and pushed Scorpius down the bench so that she could sit next to Grace, who beamed at the special treatment.

"Told you I'd be last," she said. "I was worried there'd be no places left." At which point Grace remembered she had been supposed to save Celia a seat. She blushed, realising that Celia was teasing her.

"I forgot, sorry!"

"No matter, no matter," Celia waved her worries away. "That's Raz," she said, pointing back up the table toward her brother. "He'll come say hi after the food." She was about to say more, but the headmaster stood up again. Grace realised Flitwick must have already stowed the Sorting Hat out of sight. She felt a little sorry for the hat, but it passed as Morgan Percepal began to speak. His voice was deep, and resonated throughout the hall like a cello.

"Welcome home," he said and spread his arms wide as if to encompass the whole hall. "To old and new students alike. Before we feast, l have these start of term messages: The forbidden forest is, as always, out of bounds. The Whomping Willow is equally unapproachable. Any student caught with any _Weasleys" Wizard Wheezes_ products will have them confiscated, and will serve detentions as necessary if they are found to have misused them to skip classes or hurt fellow students. No magic is to be used within the corridors between lessons, and students are forbidden from leaving their common rooms after hours. Rule breaking will be punished." His strange eyes roamed wildly around the hall, as if to enforce his will on them. "So long as this is understood, let the feast begin."

Those simple words were all it took for the tables in front of them to become laden with food. Grace was flabbergasted. She'd never seen so much food all in one place before! She caught Belinda Montague's eye, who was looking quite cross, and smiled because she couldn't think what to say. The girl seemed very intimidating.

"You lot have first year written all over you," a voice said from behind them, and Celia turned and squealed. "Do stop clinging to me, Ceils." From the nature of Celia's limpet like hug, Grace assumed her earlier guess was right. The boy with the brown hair and strange, slanting eyes must be Erazimus Zabini, for it was he who was talking to them. "Nice to see you, Scorpius."

"Raz." Scorpius nodded, his grey eyes sharp and watchful as he looked up at the older boy.

"And you are Albus Potter?" he asked Albus, who looked awkward and uncomfortable under the scrutiny. "Pleased to have you in Slytherin. We're expecting great things from you."

"Yes," Albus said. "Well…" But Raz had already turned his attention to Grace, and smiled a charming smile at her.

"And you are?"

"Grace Hart," she said. His eyes darted upward and to the left, as if in mental calculation. Probably trying to work out how much a pureblood she was. He ruffled Celia's hair, who was still hugging him tightly.

"I hope you're enjoying Hogwarts so far. It can only get better." She wasn't sure if he meant to be reassuring or not. He seemed to be very calculating, like he thought about his words well ahead of time. He pulled a face, and she realised that she'd gotten a bit carried away in helping herself to a bit of everything, and had just collected a few Brussels' sprouts.

"Those are disgusting," he told her, quite frankly. "I wouldn't if I were you." She shrugged and popped one into her mouth.

"They're alright," she said at last, after much dreadful chewing. Raz laughed, clapped her on the back, and looked to Celia.

"Make sure you write to Mum and Dad," he said. "They'll be wanting to hear everything." So saying, he detached himself, and meandered back down the table to his friends, leaving a thoughtful silence in his wake. Albus looked very pale.

"Owls stay in the Owlery, right?" he checked. Scorpius nodded.

"Not like my toad," Celia said. "Which reminds me, Herbert'll like those scrambled eggs, could you pass them?" She motioned to Belinda Montague, who looked affronted.

"Scrambled eggs?" she asked, still nasal. "For a toad? Yeck, what on earth possessed you to bring a _toad_?" Celia flushed.

"What on earth possessed you to eat so much?" she retorted, and Grace covered her mouth with a hand, stifling a giggle. It wasn't that she found Celia's anger funny, or her insult, it was that Belinda made her nervous. She admired Celia's nerve. She reached over for the scrambled eggs, and passed them to Celia, trying not to catch Belinda's eye as the other girl huffed and stuck up her already piggy nose.

"Do you want to go to the Owlery?" she asked Albus, at a diagonal, trying to ignore the glare Celia was directing to Belinda's turned away face. Scorpius was smirking in amusement.

"Maybe," Albus said, trying his best to help her ignore the situation, and finding it equally stressful. "I don't know. James'll probably Owl my parents for me, maybe one of the Carlsdales will do the same for you?" Grace pulled a face, her humour suddenly gone.

"Oh, I hope not. Can you imagine what they'll say? Timothy would be alright, but Alex will harp on about it in the most detestable way." She shuddered, and wondered for the first time what on earth her father would say. Maybe this would be a horrible shock. Albus smiled weakly.

"Tell me about it." Celia looked at him sharply, but Scorpius was the one to ask the question.

"What made you change your mind, then?" He smiled, and Grace thought it was a disguise. He didn't really want to tell them what the hat had told him, and she didn't blame him because she didn't want to share it herself. Somehow, it had been a very private affair. In Albus' case, who knows what the hat would have found there. Fortunately the food disappeared and the headmaster stood up, saving Albus from the difficult question.

"Before bed," he said in that demanding way of his. "For tradition's sake, we will sing the school song."

The words unravelled from the end of his wand, and grudgingly, with much shuffling of feet, the students sang. Grace wasn't a brilliant singer by any means. She often forgot the words, but she had the knack of singing along with whoever was next to her, copying their lilting tones to make her way through a song she didn't know. Usually this was a useful skill. In her last school the students were lectured when they didn't sing properly, but here, because everyone was singing something different, she ended up voicing a very odd amalgamation of different songs all jumbled together. Albus noticed and smiled at her, but she noticed his eyebrows had ridden up and smiled sheepishly at him in return, consciously trying to sing faster to get to the end. So, she was one of the first to finish, and had a lot of time to look around. She noticed one of the ghosts, the ghost preferring to stick to their table, was covered in blood, and felt chills run up her spine.

"How horrible," she whispered to Celia as they waited with the other Slytherin first years for someone to tell them where to go. "What happened to him?"

"The Bloody Baron?" Celia checked. "Who knows?" Albus looked like he was about to tell them, when the Slytherin prefects appeared.

"Serle Vicks," the tallest boy said. He had dark black hair, slicked to his head, and olive skin. His lips were plump, like a girl's, but he had a gauntness to his face that somehow saved his masculinity. "My name. This is Pandora Rowan." The girl was rather short, with bleary eyes, and a very red nose. Grace guessed she had a cold, but when she spoke, her voice was clear and carrying.

"Follow us, this way." She led them out of the Great Hall, past the marble staircase, and down a smaller staircase off to the side and into the dungeons. Pandora pushed several older students out of the way, and led them to a cold stone wall. She sniffed, cleared her throat, and enunciated the password for all to hear: "_veni vidi vici._"

"It means I came, I saw, I conquered," Serle explained as they entered through a passageway into a dungeon-like room with a low ceiling and greenish lamps. There were lots of low backed black chairs and dark green leather sofas with buttons, skulls and dark wood cupboards. It looked regal, but the floors looked cold on the bare marble stretches between the ornate green carpets on the floor. It reminded her of aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck.

"It extends under the lake," Scorpius whispered. Grace looked out of the window and almost screamed along with several others as something massive with tentacles swooshed by. They _were_ underwater.

"Welcome to Slytherin," Pandora said, smiling at their reactions. "Even the giant squid has come to greet you. Firstly, let's dispel a few myths. Don't believe everything you hear from competing houses. We've produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the others – they just don't like admitting it. We're traditionalists, and we care about honour, but you'll find plenty of Slytherins who have at least one Muggle parent."

"The other houses might act a little afraid of us at times, but you should use that to your advantage. A couple of hints that you've got access to a whole library of curses, and you'll be surprised how little the other students will want to pick on you," Serle said, rubbing his hands together and grinning. "And if anyone ever does, we'll have your back. Not just me and Pan, but all the Slytherins."

"As far as we're concerned, once you've become a snake, you're one of ours – one of the elite." Pandora put a hand on her hip and leant into it, surveying them all critically. "You're Slytherins because you've got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word. Don't forget that the other Slytherins have the potential to be just as great."

"What else?" Serle asked Pandora, thinking hard. She opened her mouth, but he smacked a fist into his palm. "Our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him he'll sometimes agree to frighten people for you, but don't ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn't like it."

"The password to the common room changes every fortnight," Pandora said, rolling her eyes. Serle shouldn't have forgotten such an obvious thing. "Keep an eye on the noticeboard. Never bring anyone from another house into our common room or tell them our password. Girls, follow me," and they followed her up a flight of stairs to the first door on the left. They entered a room with five ancient four-posters with green silk hangings, and bedspreads embroidered with silver thread. Medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins covered the walls. In particular Grace noticed the familiar visage of Merlin amidst the stories. Silver lanterns hung from the ceiling. "This is your dormitory. Get a good night's sleep, and if you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know."

Celia immediately ran to the second four-poster from the left, by one of the opaque windows. Grace took the one beside her on the end, and Harriet took the third. Wedby Warrington, stuck her foot out to trip Belinda as the pudgy girl made a rush for the forth, and walked sedately over to the trunk at the end of it, flipping it open with the toe of her a boot.

"This is my stuff," she explained, at which point Grace and Harriet sheepishly looked at the trunks at the ends of their beds and switched places, and Belinda, huffing, got onto her own bed, and drew the curtains shut. Wedby rolled her eyes and pulled the curtains back. "Don't be like that. We might as well be friends." All she got was a glower in response, and she shrugged and turned back to the rest of the room as Belinda finally got her way and tore the curtains closed again. Harriet giggled, and set about stripping the hair ties from her bunches.

"I'm so nervous about tomorrow," she said, "that I'm sure I shan't be able to sleep." Grace nodded in agreement, but no sooner had she gotten ready for bed than she passed out, all thoughts of sending letters forgotten.

* * *

Author Notes:

I would like to apologise to previous readers of this story in its original form. Anyone who has read this will see that it's completely changed from the original (although the general plot will hopefully have remained the same). I would just like to explain why this change has occurred. That is, as you can tell, I've written it in a different style. I hope you can tell. This is the style I'm prone to. The style I swing back to most of the time unless I'm writing a very specific kind of project. The previous version of this story copied J.K.R.s book format, and I got totally fed up with it. Not least because I kept having to explain terminology which the readers and myself already know! I liked discovering diagon alley with my character, and going through the whole adventure, but it's not something I think needs to be seen in hindsight.

There are OCs in this because to think you could write a story about three characters and only have them interact with other already established members of canon when it's set years later and half of the teachers are different and we know no-one else in their year is a completely redundant idea. Likewise, to assume that any last names not directly taken from cannon are definitely Muggleborn would be failing to comprehend how many people there are in the world J.K.R. set up for us, and matching everyone together too neatly. I wanted to write a girl because the HP books are obviously about a boy, and sometimes I think it would be nice to see the alternative. Rose wasn't an option. She would never be in Slytherin. Not on her life. A single train journey wouldn't change that. I put a lot of thought into making their decisions believable. Hopefully you agree.

If you like this story, it's side-story inheritance is complete and will give you some idea of what's to come. The side-story has no OCs in it.

Luv Ya

XxMookinexX

©2013 XxMookinexX. All rights reserved. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of XxMookinexX.


	2. Mourning Mail

_**Seven Years in Slytherin  
**_XxMookinexX

Based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.

* * *

**First Year, Part Two**_  
_Mourning Mail

"He acted like Al had changed the rules of a game he'd been planning for months."_  
_On James Potter, Inheritance

Grace awoke with the sound of lake water lapping against the windows. She smiled, and rolled over in the four-poster, luxuriating in the largeness of it. The bed fairly engulfed her. She was usually able to roll over in a single bed without having to worry about falling off either side. With this one she could probably cartwheel over and she'd still be inside the confines of the mattress. She sat bolt upright, and pulled back her curtains to see if any of the others were awake, and wondered what the time was. There was a yawn from the bed to her left, and she saw Wedby pull back her own curtains, rubbing at the sleep in her eyes.

"G'morning," she said. "M'starving. You?"

"Yeah," she agreed, although she was so excited she wasn't sure she could eat. The curtains on her far right pulled back quickly and Harriet grinned at them. She was on all fours, bouncing up and down excitedly on the bed, her hair already brushed into bunches. She looked wide-awake.

"Did you sleep?" Wedby asked, seemingly startled into a more alert state.

"Can we go to breakfast?" Harriet asked in a rush, jumping out of the bed. "I've been waiting for one of you to wake up for hours!"

Wedby and Grace exchanged looks. Grace grinned, and made to get out of bed. As they got dressed, she looked at the two remaining curtains; both Belinda and Celia were still fast asleep.

"Hey," she asked. "Do you think we should wake them up?" Celia would probably be furious if she left her. She started to walk towards her friend's bed when the curtains pulled back all on their own.

"You are _not_ leaving me behind!" Celia grumbled, practically rolling out of bed and onto the floor. For a girl with such grace and beauty in the day, she looked a bit of a state first thing in the morning. Grace giggled.

"I was going to wake you up!" she said. "Honest!"

"Did you guys share a compartment?" Wedby wondered. "You seem pretty close." Grace nodded, but Celia was still half asleep – she trudged to the bathroom and closed the door.

"Really?" Harriet asked. "I was sharing with Marlowe and Seb."

"Eck." Wedby sighed. "Lucky. I shared a carriage with my brother and a load of other Hufflepuffs like Daisy Nott."

"What's wrong with that?" Grace asked, just as Harriet asked "What's wrong with Hufflepuffs?" They looked at each other and grinned stupidly.

"Nothing, I suppose," Wedby grumbled, but held up her hands to show she didn't mean to cause offence. "I just wish I knew some people from _our_ house."

"Well," Harriet said, taking her arm and smiling. "You do now! Let's be the best of friends." Grace nodded, and Wedby smiled. Grace thought she looked a lot nicer when she smiled. Far less intimidating than she'd first appeared. Celia exited from the bathroom, and the three of them stared at her with open mouths. Her appearance was perfect, and she'd only been in there for five minutes.

"How do you _do_ that?" Harriet asked.

"Oh," Celia smiled a little and brushed some of her silky blonde hair back behind her shoulder again. "Just some spells."

"Will you teach me?" Harriet asked. "When I know how to do spells, I mean, without setting fire to myself or something." Grace hadn't had any idea that Celia was already so talented.

"How do you already know spells?" Wedby asked, frowning. "We're not allowed to practice magic at home." Celia looked a little sheepish.

"My grandma taught me. I've been practicing since I was five. Not with a wand or anything," she said quickly, holding up her hands as Wedby's frown grew more pronounced. "With pencils, but once I had the wand movements down, and knew how to say the words right, there wasn't much more to it. So I gave it a go. I'm glad it turned out okay." Wedby smiled.

"Alright then. Shall we go?" She looked around and noticed all four of them were ready.

"What about-?" Harriet started to ask, looking toward Belinda's bed.

"Oh," Celia huffed. "Leave her. Maybe she'll be less unpleasant with a bit more sleep." Wedby smirked, but Grace felt bad and went over to pull Belinda's curtains, ignoring Celia completely. To her surprise, the bed was empty.

"Would you look at that?" Wedby said, leaning around Grace. "She left us behind!"

"The nerve!" Celia sounded quite offended.

"You were happy to leave her behind only a moment ago," Grace chided, and Celia rolled her eyes.

"Yes," she agreed, somewhat reproachfully. "But it's different when someone does it to me. And I wouldn't have left her behind really. It's just she is a bit… you know?" Wedby nodded.

"Yeah, we know. It's no biggie."

They left for breakfast, noticing that the common room was cold this early in the morning. Grace noticed there were fires blazing, and was grateful for them, even though she disliked fire immensely. Not that they did much to warm the room. She looked around for Scorpius or Albus, but there was almost nobody about.

* * *

The Great Hall was mostly full of first years, all eager for their new lessons. Grace didn't see Belinda anywhere, but she saw Albus and Scorpius with the other boys and went to sit by them.

"Morning," they greeted, and smiles were exchanged as Grace helped herself to toast. Wedby was distracted. She was looking at the Hufflepuff table.

"Oh," she muttered. "I bet he's not awake yet. He'll be late!"

"Your brother?" Harriet guessed. "You know we're early, right? Or does he often oversleep? Are you the organised one of your family?" Wedby hesitated, and Grace imagined she was working out which question to answer first, and then replied:

"Yes."

"To which?" Harriet asked, frowning with confusion at her own questions.

"All of the above." Wedby smiled, and Grace realised she was teasing. Wedby was quite a lot brasher than any of the other girls, except maybe Celia, but she was actually quite friendly. At least, she seemed easy to get along with. Belinda would take some work.

"Did you sleep well?" Albus asked her, and she realised this was her first time sitting next to him.

"Yeah, like a log. I thought I'd be up for hours, but I must've passed out right away. I completely forgot to send that letter to Dad." A shadow passed over his face, and she nudged him. "Come on, it won't be so bad."

"You didn't see his brother, this morning," Scorpius input from across the table.

"What happened?" Celia asked, next to him.

"He completely ignored me," Albus groaned. Grace was appalled.

"No," she whispered. "Really?" She turned around and stared towards the Gryffindor table, searching out James Potter. He was easy to find, he was next to Alex, and she'd recognise Alex anywhere. To her great satisfaction, they seemed to be bickering.

"Don't look," Albus moaned. "I don't want him to know it bothers me." Scorpius sniggered.

"You sound like a girl." Albus blushed hotly.

"I do not!" he hissed, and Celia laughed, smacking Scorpius lightly over the head.

"Ignore him," she told Albus. "He's an only child. Doesn't get sibling fights."

"As if you'd ever fight with Raz," Scorpius muttered. "You have a brother complex." Celia looked livid.

"Would you stop saying that? Someone might actually _believe_ you." Grace laughed.

"I think you two act like siblings most of all," she said. The only thing that she had to compare sibling fights to was Timothy and Alex's strangely turbulent relationship. They were constantly competing. Or Alex was. She'd never truly understood Timothy's standpoint in their arguments.

"I heard my name." Erazimus Zabini glided into the seat next to Celia, who grinned at him. There was no doubt she loved him, but Grace didn't think it was a brother complex. Not really. Scorpius was only teasing.

"Morning," Scorpius greeted. "You're up early."

"Only to keep an eye on you," Raz teased. Scorpius shook his head. Raz unfurled _The Daily Prophet_ and whistled under his breath.

"Anything interesting?" Albus asked.

"It's yesterdays," he commented through a yawn. "Got a bit caught up on the train, and never got round to it. Looks like Regis Elmerick was throwing another fit about _The Seer_."

"Oh, about those alleged thefts from the Department of Mysteries?" Celia asked. Albus looked grim.

"Dad hates that paper. He says Rita Skeeter wouldn't know a fact if it stunned her."

"My dad quite likes her," Scorpius put in. "He thinks she's comedy. I agree. She may draw her stories out of her arse, but they're entertaining." Raz snorted.

"They call them Unspeakables for a reason, Scorpius. No one who knows enough of what goes on in the Department of Mysteries to notice if any of it went missing would ever be able to tell someone like Rita Skeeter about it. It's ludicrous to suggest otherwise." Grace zoned out of the conversation. She never read newspapers: the Prophet, the Seer or the Quibbler. "Last week they were talking about Dragon Law, as if there were still tribes living amongst them in the wild. It's rubbish. Their so-called seer is an outbreak from St Mungos! Any day they're going to say he lived in Azkaban for a year or two to get a feel for the scenery before he brings out his next book on Dementor wallpaper being conducive to producing a law abiding citizen." Celia giggled, and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Raz gets a little touchy when his news isn't news to him," he explained. Grace shrugged.

"If it annoys you, why do you read it?" she asked, and Raz blinked at her, momentarily taken aback. Scorpius flashed her a thumbs up. It wasn't very often that someone got the better of Raz.

"Well, because it's something to complain about," he decided, looking thoughtful. Celia tittered dutifully, and Grace decided to leave well enough alone. She turned back to Harriet and Wedby.

"So it was only when the mirror started talking back," Harriet was explaining, "That I realised I'd done anything magical at all. Mum was thrilled. Dad never told her he was a wizard. She thinks it's wicked." Wedby's expression was dry.

"I'll assume you don't mean that literally," she muttered. Harriet looked confused.

"First-years!" Grace looked up, startled, along with the other Slytherins. A teacher, a tall woman in long amethyst robes stood behind them carrying lots of parchment. Her hair was black, and knotted elaborately to her skull, like something out of the Victorian era. Her grey eyes were overshadowed by long false eyelashes with small black feathers spread amongst them. Her mouth was pert, but covered in cuts, as if she often bit into her lower lip. Her chin was high and angular, her nose, long, but fairly insubstantial, and her cheeks were as sallow as the rest of her skin. The hands that clutched the parchment were lined; manual labour had etched the tissue. She had calluses and shallow scars. There were nicks on her fingers. Her nails were worn, but painted bright red. "I am Professor Moors, head of Slytherin house. I expect each of you to be a credit to us, and rest assured I shall be watching your progress intensely." Her grey eyes flickered to Albus. "I have your timetables." She paused as she surveyed them. "Where is the fifth girl?"

"Belinda Montague?" Harriet piped up, her voice squeaky under the professor's gaze.

"Quite," Professor Moors said. "Where is she?" Grace sent Celia a worried look.

"She was gone when we woke up this morning," Celia said, defying anyone to call her a liar. "We thought she would already be down here." Professor Moors' lips thinned unpleasantly.

"Indeed. Well, Miss Zabini, I'm charging you with the responsibility to get her timetable to her." She passed out their first year timetables and swept on. Grace worried her lip. She'd completely forgotten about their missing roommate.

"Well, where is she?" she hissed. Celia shrugged stiffly, looking at their timetable eagerly.

"Wherever grumpy fatsos go to feel good about themselves," she muttered. "Maybe she's in the kitchens? She probably feels at home there."

Grace frowned. She wasn't sure she liked the way this was turning out. She was sure they'd just started out on the wrong foot. Although she supposed Belinda could have made it a little easier for them. Raz reached over and nicked Celia's timetable. He whistled.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, first thing on a Monday? Ouch. Still, you're all lucky it's already the weekend. My first year I had a full week of lessons starting on the second. We could hardly catch a break."

"Is Defence really that hard?" Albus asked. "I always assumed it was Dad's favourite subject."

"Well, I think that would depend on what teacher he had. You know they went through seven?" Albus frowned, and it must have taken him a while to realise that Blaise Zabini had been in his dad's year.

"Yeah, although Dad did his last year through correspondence." Raz nodded. A lot of students had missed a year of school because of Voldemort's second rise to power. Most caught the work up the following year, but some decided not to come back. They switched schools in some cases, and seventh years were given the option to finish their courses by correspondence.

"Because of Voldemort?" Harriet asked. Wedby knocked over her goblet in surprise. Raz frowned and got out his wand, whispering a spell to remove the excess pumpkin juice. But the rest of them couldn't help glancing at Wedby and the blush on her face. The Warringtons were an established wizarding family, like the Zabinis. Grace wondered if they'd handled the situation differently by refusing to ever talk about Death Eaters, or Voldemort again.

"Yeah," Albus answered, trying to cover the awkward moment. Harriet smiled sheepishly, feeling like she might have said something wrong.

"Sorry, I've been trying to read up on it." Of course, Grace hadn't thought about the vast numbers of students who would know nothing about it. And why should they? It had been over twenty years ago.

"What did you mean about Defence?" Grace asked suddenly, realising that they'd gotten side tracked. Raz blinked at her. "What's bad about it? You never said."

"Oh, just that Viridian's… well, he's unsettling. Brilliant. Knows his stuff, but rather set in his ways. Doesn't like being interrupted. He expects you to keep up, and he'll play favourites. Mark my words. You'll have an easier time if you make a good impression on him, and he's hard to impress, and even harder to please. If he thinks you're trying to suck up to him, he'll shoot you down again." They sat in silence for a minute, digesting this information. "You'll be fine though. Just try not to be late."

There was a fluttering overhead, and Grace looked up as hundreds of owls poured in from the windows near the high ceiling of the Great Hall with parcels or envelopes.

"Oh!" Harriet exclaimed unnecessarily. "Post!"

Sally Carlsdale's owl, Artemis dropped a letter off in front of Grace before flying on to the Ravenclaw table, probably looking for Timothy. Grace ripped it open, eager to find out what message it contained.

_Hi love,_

_How is Hogwarts? I hope it's everything you dreamed of. Since your classes wont start for a few days I really recommend you go exploring. There are a lot of trick staircases from what I remember. I'm sure you're very busy making friends, but if you have time I really recommend walking round the lake. Especially if the weather's as nice there as it is here. Timothy was kind enough to write last night, so I hope you're not worrying about being sorted into Slytherin. I couldn't be more proud of you. If you're having fun and you're with the friends you like, don't let anyone give you a hard time. Please let me know if anyone, especially Alex, tries to hassle you about it. I've had a word with Sally and she said she's got a stack of Howlers ready to go if he tries so much as to trip you up. I hope that reassures you. Then again, I hope you weren't worried to begin with. I know you can handle anything that comes your way. But let me know if you need me to send you anything. I seem to remember the Slytherin common room was somewhere in the dungeons. Do you have enough warm clothes? I love you so much. Hope to hear from you soon,_

_Love Dad xo_

Grace grinned so widely it felt like her face was splitting in two. She had to write back immediately, and let him know how wonderful her friends were so he wouldn't worry. She was fine in Slytherin. She'd chosen it, after all. She glanced up to comment on the letter to one of her friends but soon realised they were all engrossed with their own. Scorpius placed his down first and rolled his eyes.

"Dad says he supposed it couldn't be helped. Mum didn't bother to write anything. If I were upset about being sorted here, this would be the least comforting letter in the world."

"In that case, isn't it good you're where you wanted to be?" Grace asked. Scorpius looked faintly surprised, then he laughed, and colour spread into his cheeks as he did so.

"You're right! I shouldn't complain."

"Mine could be worse," Celia grumbled, passing hers off to Raz when she was done with it. "There are a lot of tear stains, but at least Mum made sure to write that she loves me anyway."

"What does yours say, Albus?" Scorpius asked, and Grace's ears pricked up. Albus' letter was the most intriguing to her, particularly given James' continued steadfastness in refusing to look at their table. It was as if he didn't even have a brother.

"Well, they're surprised," he muttered, putting it down with a sigh and picking at the bacon on his plate. "Dad says he'll have a word with James if he's a prat about it… They both said it doesn't change anything, and to remember that they love me no matter what." Grace grinned. She'd had a feeling that James' behaviour was the singularity, but she was glad to be proven correct.

"Well of course they do," a sultry voice said from behind them. A beautiful girl with reddish blonde hair had enveloped Albus in a hug from behind, and was squeezing tightly. She was wearing perfume, but it wasn't overpowering. Grace could only smell it because she was sat right next to Albus. Her friend had flushed bright pink. As the girl pulled back, Grace saw a Head Girl pin attached to her Gryffindor robes.

"Hey Vic," Albus said, smiling at her and adjusting his glasses so they sat straight on his head again.

"Hello yourself. You gave us quite the surprise Albus. I think James died."

"Well, that would explain why he's not talking to me," Albus grumbled.

"Isn't he?" Victoire Weasley looked over at the Gryffindor table and sighed. "Well, he's upset. He wanted to show off to you." She looped a few strands of her burnished copper hair behind her ears. "I can have a word with him if you like."

"No!" Albus exclaimed quickly. "It's fine. Really, Vic. I'm okay." Vic frowned, then turned her attention to the rest of them. "I'm Victoire Weasley. Head Girl. Don't hesitate to find me if you have a problem." She looked back at Albus and smiled affectionately at him. "I'll see you later Albus. I'm sure the others will be along in a minute, but I have a meeting with the Headmaster."

"Bye, Vic." She sauntered away. Grace caught Raz staring after her, and he grinned sheepishly.

"I've always found it amazing how she can switch her charms on and off," he explained. "That's probably the first time I've seen it so close at hand." Albus frowned.

"She wasn't using her veela charm." Raz' mouth dropped open.

"Veela? She's part veela?" Albus blushed.

"Well, what were you talking about?" he asked. It was obvious he now regretted jumping to that conclusion.

"The way she's affectionate one minute and The Disciplinary Queen the next. I can't count the number of house points she's taken off people. She's a complete stickler for the rules!" Raz took a breath, having become quite heated, and tried to calm down. "Still, part veela? That's interesting."

"Only an eighth. Her great grandmother was one. Please don't say anything nasty about it. I wouldn't have told you if I didn't think you already knew." Albus seemed quite anguished at the thought.

"_Relax_, Albus!" Raz reached over and ruffled his hair. "I'm not going to say anything. Louis would probably try to kill me."

"Louis?" Albus gawped at Raz. "Do you really mean _Louis_?" Raz pursed his lips.

"It wouldn't be the first time he's gotten defensive about his sisters."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, it's not a big deal. It's just that Dominique and Victoire are very popular, and once or twice there have been times when a guy's gotten jealous or bitter about being rejected and said some nasty things about them. Started rumours."

"What kind of rumours?" Celia asked, looking thoughtful. Raz shrugged and looked a bit uncomfortable about where the conversation had led.

"Stupid stuff. This is a boarding school. Things like that happen every so often. You ignore it and move on."

"How many cousins do you _have_?" Scorpius suddenly asked, looking over Grace and Albus' heads. They turned. Four Gryffindors of various looks and sizes were making their way towards them, but James wasn't amongst them. Grace saw Albus' face fall and craned her neck to see behind the quartet to where she'd last seen him sitting. A Hufflepuff fourth-year was standing over James with a severe expression on her face, her blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail, allowing the full extent of her angry blush to be seen. The blush was impressive. It started at her chest, somewhere beneath her school shirt and spread up her neck, across her face and flushed out her ears. She looked upset, agitated, and James obviously wasn't helping matters, muttering what looked like some kind of sarcastic comment. Beside James, Beth looked like she really wanted to say something. Grace started when she realised Alex was watching her, and turned away.

The Gryffindor quartet could not have looked more different. A tall wiry girl with a bright red C tagged to her robes had a boyishly short haircut of vibrant red with black streaks amongst the more usual Weasley characteristics of blue eyes and freckled skin. Striding along next to her was a heavy-set young man with dark skin, short black hair and deep brown eyes. Grace noticed he was missing most of his right eyebrow, which she thought was odd since he had a Gryffindor prefect badge pinned to his robes. The young girl next to him looked like she could have been his sister. Her tightly spirally black curls bounced around her head as she laughed at something the final girl said, who had black dreadlocks threaded with a million multi-coloured braids and beads. Apart from the first girl they didn't look very much like Albus at all, but an obvious Weasley relative stood up and joined them as they passed the Ravenclaw table. All five of them were trooping in Albus' direction. He looked incredibly embarrassed that so many of his family had come to see him all at once. The other students were staring.

"There are _nine_ of them," Albus explained with an audible groan. "Only Hugo's not at Hogwarts yet."

"Wow," Grace exclaimed. "I had no idea your family was so _big_!" Albus looked thoughtful.

"It's not that big. I mean, the Scammander twins aren't actually related to me, and technically Teddy's just Dad's godson. I'm only one of three – James and my little sister, Lily. Dad was an only child, but Mum's the youngest of seven. So I guess it's her fault?" Grace thought that was a funny way of putting it, but maybe it was tough having to compete with so many relatives.

"Albus!" The Gryffindor Quidditch captain was the first to reach them. She must have gotten too excited to walk sedately over like the rest of her family. She grinned broadly down at Albus and proceeded to thoroughly mess up his hair. "How's Slytherin?"

"Monique, get off!" he complained, trying to push her away. "It's fine!" He tried to smooth his hair back down as he looked around at the rest of them. Raz started to laugh, and Monique jabbed his forehead with a finger.

"How was your summer, Zabini?" Raz grinned.

"Good. Yours?"

"Good." She agreed, and cracked her knuckles. "I'm looking forward to mashing you in November."

"Yeah? How do you expect to do that when you're seeking? I can score a million points before you can get around Lars."

"You're so cute when you trash talk," she cooed, obviously mocking him, although it looked strangely like flirting from where Grace was sitting. Celia looked incredibly distraught, and Albus faintly sick.

"Good to know," Raz said breezily, completely not phased by the backhanded compliment. "But seriously, don't you have three spaces to fill? With Jordan, Mate and Wilkes gone you'll have a completely different team dynamic. We'll still be on top form."

"Oh, please." Monique rolled her eyes. "With our talent pool teamwork will be the last of our problems. Besides, a new dynamic means new tactics. You'll still have the same dull routines and practice drills."

"Well, maybe. But I don't know where you expect to find a new keeper. Besides, your talent pool is stretching rather thin. I don't think a team made up of your friends and relations will be without its complications."

"Are we talking Quidditch?" the younger sister in the remaining trio of Gryffindors had run to join the conversation. She barely spared Albus a glance, but Albus seemed rather glad of that. If anything he was grateful that Raz was taking some of the attention away from him. Monique smiled at her younger cousin.

"Think what you like, but you guys had a lucky escape last year when our Roxy broke her arm." Raz looked Roxanne Weasley up and down and nodded.

"If you can put aside your rivalry with Finnegan, I'm sure you'll make good beaters yet. But you're nowhere near Klein and Green's level. Not yet." Roxanne blushed and Monique frowned, pursing her lips at what was obviously still a sore point.

"Hello, Albus." Roxanne's older brother seemed much more down to earth, Grace thought, as the Ravenclaw and remaining two Gryffindors collected behind them.

"Hi, Freddie." Albus looked relieved. "Hi Louis, Faye."

"How's it going, kiddo?" Faye reached out to mess up his hair, but Albus, expecting the attack, ducked out of the way in time. This was obviously a common theme in most of the females in his family.

"I wish everyone would stop asking me that," he grumbled.

"It's just because we can't _believe_ you didn't want to live with _us_!" she exclaimed and winked to show she was joking. "We were going to have so much fun! James and I had this whole series of misadventures to put you through… proper torment. You'd have loved it. It was character building stuff!"

"Somehow, that doesn't really sell it to me," Albus muttered dryly. "Uh." He looked around and realised he should be doing some introductions. Monique's full name was Dominique Weasley. She was Victoire's younger sister, and Louis, the Ravenclaw, was their younger brother. Fred Weasley, as Grace had guessed, was Roxanne's older brother. The blonde Hufflepuff across the room was Molly Weasley, and her younger sister Lucy, also a Ravenclaw, was currently nowhere to be seen. Apparently that was usual for her. "And this is Faye Jordan," he said, pointing at the braided Gryffindor. "She's actually not related to me."

"Oh, but I'm practically a part of the family and you know it!" She laughed and leant an arm on Freddie. A moment passed, then she looked at him. "And by that I only meant that I come to all your family gatherings," she explained dryly. She obviously didn't want Freddie getting any funny ideas.

"I know," Freddie said, frowning. The possibility hadn't even crossed his mind. Faye huffed, and Roxanne rolled her eyes.

"Louis was the first of us to break the family tradition," Monique decided to tell them. "Albus isn't nearly as dramatic as he thinks he is." Albus blushed. "Besides, we all know Lucy thinks she's a Slytherin, even if she did pick Ravenclaw." Louis frowned.

"Monique," Molly arrived and gently chastised her cousin. Grace looked around for James and spotted him storming out of the Great Hall. She hoped Albus hadn't seen.

"She does hate us _all_, Molly," Roxanne said, fixing her older cousin with a pitying gaze. "You're the only one who doesn't want to believe it." Molly Weasley huffed.

"You shouldn't say that about family."

"Well, where is she then?" Roxanne asked, gesturing around her at their little gathering. "She's the only one _not_ here-" Molly crossed her arms and waited patiently for Roxanne to realise. "Where's James? I thought you were bringing him?" There was no more disguising it. Albus sighed and looked incredibly depressed.

"He's upset," Molly echoed Victoire's earlier sentiments. "He'll come around."

"Uncle Ron said if I was a Slytherin he'd never talk to me again," Albus wailed, startling Grace and prompting Celia and Scorpius into another tirade. Molly was saying something along the lines of James not being upset about Albus being Slytherin, but rather that he was upset Albus wasn't a Gryffindor. Grace stopped listening. She'd spotted Beth, Catherine and Alex walking towards the doors. She scrambled to her feet and rushed after them. Honestly, she would rather not have to face Alex, but she hoped they'd be able to shake some sense into James and that seemed far more important. Grace didn't have siblings, but after years of watching Alex and Timothy turn against one another she couldn't stand watching anyone have such a stupid fight. So what if James felt left out at not being able to show off to Albus? So what if he'd been planning to involve Albus in mischief making plans? It was childish of James to _ignore_ him.

On reaching the Entrance Hall, Grace was just in time to see the trio turn right at the top of the stairs. She hurried after them, and followed through an archway to a room that was full of staircases. She stopped dead, staring upwards in amazement. She'd never seen so many staircases in her life, and they were moving! Grace wasn't Muggleborn. She wasn't flabbergasted when everyday Muggle things were able to move of their own volition. The awe was inspired when she suddenly realised how hard it was going to be to find anything in the castle. It felt like, if she ran around carelessly, she could get lost forever. She was so distracted that she completely lost sight of where the three Gryffindors had gone.

"Boo!" Grace almost jumped out of her skin. Belinda Montigue stood laughing beside her. "Sorry. You should have seen your face!"

"Where on earth have you _been_?" Grace asked, pushing everything else to the back of her mind. For some reason she'd expected Belinda to still be grumpy with them after last night. She wondered how much of that was because of Celia. Belinda looked confused.

"I was exploring," she said, as if it were the most natural explanation in the world. "I don't know how the four of you managed to sleep so long."

"I thought you _hated_ us!" Grace blurted, completely out of the blue. "I mean you were so _upset_ last night. I'm sorry."

"Oh. I was just… I overreact when I'm uncomfortable. It all seems so final when you think you're the least interesting one in the room." Grace's mouth dropped open. Belinda's round face turned even rounder when she looked anxious. Her skin was turning red and she was beginning to look more and more like a tomato.

"What?" Grace asked. She couldn't even begin to work out why Belinda would think that.

"It's something my mum once said," Belinda said, running a hand over her hair. She must have done something to it that morning – braided and pinned it in to an amazingly elegant style. Grace suddenly felt very envious. Her own dark hair was limp and static. "I'm pretty fat. There were these girls back home who used to tease me about it. They'd laugh whenever I said anything, and because of that I stopped talking for a while. Maybe it's because of that? But I don't know how to talk to people when I get upset."

"Oh." Grace wasn't sure what to say. Belinda had told her in such a straightforward and emotionless way that it was hard to feel any real pity for her. "I'm sorry?"

"Why?" Grace blinked. "I mean," Belinda said very slowly, feeling her way through the sentence. "It's _my_ problem. What could you do about it?"

"I don't know," Grace said honestly. "I just wanted to say something." She thought about James. Maybe he was more like Belinda. He wasn't deliberately ignoring Albus; he simply didn't know what to say. "Belinda, I think you might have solved my problem."

"Really?" Belinda grinned, and when she did her smile was lovely. On impulse Grace smiled in return.

"Definitely. By the way, we have your timetable. Professor Moors was handing them out at breakfast. Have you eaten?" Belinda shook her head. Grace grabbed her hand and started to walk towards the Great Hall. "Well, if we want to go exploring, we'll need our energy. I really want to go to the lake. You haven't fallen down any trick staircases yet have you?"

"Fortunately not!" Belinda laughed. "I've been trying to work out how many floors there are."

"And how many are there?" Grace asked as they made their way to the Slytherin table. Albus waved at them, the rest of his family had disappeared but Rose Weasley was in the middle of yet another argument with Scorpius. Celia was shooting Rose sour looks, and pulled a face at Grace as they sat down.

"I'm not sure. On some sides there are seven, and on others the stairs keep going up and up. I think I ended up at the top of a tower or something because I'm sure I counted fourteen at one point."

"I'm going to get so lost," Grace moaned, flumping down onto the table and almost putting her hair in Albus' porridge.

"I'm sure the other students will help us," Rose said, turning to them. She was rather pink in the face, and Grace wondered whether that meant Scorpius had won whatever fight they'd been having. "And you're right, there are fourteen floors. That was probably the astronomy tower. I've read all of _Hogwarts: A History_." Belinda looked at Grace who shrugged. She'd never heard of it. "Are you really living in the dungeons? Is it dark down there? Ours must be at least twelve floors up."

"Rose," Albus said sharply. "I'm not sure we're allowed to talk about that."

"Why not?" Rose looked genuinely baffled. "It's not like I asked you where the entrance was. Anyway, Albus, Hagrid's sent a letter reminding us about going to his on Friday for tea. You are still coming aren't you? Since we won't have classes together apart from Herbology, I want to make sure we're still going to see each other regularly."

"Rose," Albus groaned. "The Ravenclaw table is _right_ next to us! I'm not dead!" She sniffed. "Of course I'm coming to Hagrid's. If you like, I promise I'll be your partner in Herbology lessons, okay?" Rose beamed and her large front teeth stood out prominently.

"Doesn't he teach Care of Magical Creatures?" Belinda suddenly burst into their conversation and Grace jumped slightly. Albus looked a little on edge, as if he were expecting an attack about something.

"Yes," he said, very slowly.

"Can I come?" Belinda blurted, looking so enthusiastic Grace was completely dumbfounded. How nice it would be to be able to invite yourself along to things that easily.

"Um." Albus looked like he wished he knew how to say no to people, but at her enthusiasm he relented. "Sure." He glanced at the rest of them. "Did you want to come?" Grace wanted to, desperately, but Celia shook her head before she could say anything.

"I think," Celia said, looking sharply in Belinda's direction. "That if we all come, we won't all fit in." Grace bit her lip, wondering at Celia's choice of words. Had that been another _fat_ joke, or was Celia simply resentful that Belinda was butting in? Either way it seemed as if Celia really had a problem with Belinda, and Grace didn't miss the look of hurt on Belinda's face.

"If you're bringing friends, I'm going to invite Zara and Connie," Rose said. Albus pulled a face. "What?"

"Nothing." He sighed, and Grace remembered how the two girls had kept giggling whenever they tried to talk to him. Scorpius had been looking thoughtful.

"If the offer's still open," he started a little slowly. "Can I come too?" Albus was surprised, but Rose looked so enthusiastic about the idea Grace thought her face might break under the strain of supporting her smile.

"That's perfect. We'll both bring two friends! I'm looking forward to it," and so saying, she bounced away.

Wedby stretched, and as she did so a very weird squeal came out of her throat. The Slytherin first years stared at her.

"What?" she asked. Celia scrunched up her nose, but any thought she had she kept to herself.

"What do you guys want to do today?" Harriet asked, seeing that Albus' family invasion was finally over.

"I'd quite like to just… you know, _look_ at the Quidditch pitch," Wedby put in, looking a bit embarrassed.

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Marlowe Bucket cried, grinning around at them all. His teeth were so white! "You don't mind if we tag along, do you? I'm sure we'd all like to see the grounds."

"It'll do Jeremy some good," Sebastian Cauldwell said, inclining his head in the grumpy boy's direction. Jeremy Winters was leaning on his elbow, poking the scrambled eggs on his plate with a spoon. He had such a gloomy presence.

"You'll have to excuse, Jeremy," Marlowe said, raking a hand through his perfect hair. "He's just a bit upset that his _girlfriend_ chose Hufflepuff!" Colour blossomed in Jeremy's cheeks.

"I _am_ _not_!" he snarled, lashing out with his foot to catch Marlowe on the ankle under the table.

"Help! I'm injured!" Marlowe swooned, and Sebastian, playing along, caught his friend and shouted:

"I'll save you, _Paula_!"

"I will _kill_ you." His irritation getting the better of him, Jeremy launched himself at the two of them. Marlowe sounded like he was about to burst a lung from laughing. Harriet squealed for the boys to stop, and Wedby looked on, amused. Grace laughed along with everyone. It was the first time she'd ever seen Jeremy so animated. The teasing had really brought him out of his shell.

* * *

The weekend passed in a blur. Jeremy ended up tackling Sebastian into the lake, and since they were already wet they ended up going for a swim. The giant squid turned up to investigate what the splashing was, and following Belinda's lead, they'd spent an hour tickling it's tentacles and playing in the water. Harriet had resisted for the longest time, feeling completely squeamish, until Wedby and Marlowe had picked her up and dropped her into the water. Harriet could really scream.

Afterwards, Wedby had dragged them to the Quidditch pitch and gotten into a heavy debate with Marlowe and Scorpius about what position was best. There was a flyer pinned to the notice board saying that tryouts would be starting in the second week, and the three of them had all complained because first years weren't even allowed to try out. Albus had taken Harriet aside to try to explain some of the rules, but Celia had kept interrupting, and ultimately Harriet was confused. They'd all laughed when Sebastian screamed after Nearly-Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had floated straight through him on their way back into the castle. Grace had thought it looked like a very unpleasant experience.

At dinner, Beth had repeatedly hit James until he grudgingly came over to talk to Albus.

"M'sorry," James muttered so quickly they almost missed it. He was looking at his shoes, and so missed the fact that Albus was almost in tears with relief. Scorpius had tried very hard not to laugh, which had prompted Celia to elbow him so powerfully in the ribs that he toppled off his seat. James roared with laughter, all his awkwardness forgotten, and moments later he and Albus were chatting away like nothing had ever happened between them. Grace privately felt she would have demanded an explanation in Albus' shoes, but Albus was obviously a better person than she was. Either that, or he would rather pretend it never happened.

Grace had been dreading finding her way to class, but Belinda seemed to have an inbuilt compass. She navigated the vanishing steps and opened the reluctant doors like it was nothing. Seeing her value, Celia noticeably reduced the number of nasty jokes she'd been making. Vindictus Viridian, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, was not impressed at their promptness, which Grace had felt was rather an achievement. He actually harrumphed as he opened the door, causing Grace to worry how he would have reacted had they been late. Raz had not been joking when he'd warned them about him.

"Those of you with older siblings may recognise me as the author of Curses and Counter-curses," he grumbled, as they filed into the classroom, beginning his lecture right off the bat. He coughed up a wad of phlegm, swallowed it, and continued like nothing had happened. Celia squirmed in her seat. She couldn't stand bad hygiene, and Viridian was an old, grey haired man with a gait that implied varicose veins and the gruff voice of a wizard with a permanent throat infection. "You will not win any house points by repeating any of those spells here. We will study the standard text by Quentin Trimble. You will not duel outside of this class. Inside this class, your wand work will be closely regulated. I will make you perform in front of one another. I will deduct points for showboating. The _point_ of these lessons is to teach you not how to successfully pull off the spells, but to instil some wisdom about when and where particular spells will be useful. This will test your common sense. Mister Cauldwell." Sebastian jumped. "The first two spells first years learn are the simplest – red and green sparks. Why do you think we learn them?"

"To get the basics," Sebastian stated, very uncertainly. "So we can't hurt ourselves if we mess up?" Viridian nodded.

"Miss Warrington." Wedby straightened up, visibly tensing, and Sebastian relaxed. He must have passed. "Expand on what Mister Cauldwell has suggested. Why are the basics important?"

"Because." She paused to think of the best answer she could. "If we don't get the basics right, we cannot hope to succeed in more advanced spells." There was a feeling amongst the Slytherins that this was a good answer, but that the question had been too easy. No one wanted to get a question wrong in front of their friends.

"Incorrect." Grace was surprised. She had been sure Wedby had passed with flying colours. "If you cannot get the basics right, then you can _only_ hope to succeed in more advanced spells. But your general argument is sound. There is a clear advantage to learning the simplest of spells. They are the basis of your spell repertoire. Furthermore, they are unlikely to cause harmful results if misfired or mispronounced. The key point, as Mister Cauldwell correctly deduced, is that you do not hurt yourselves. This is the most important lesson I will ever teach you about Defence Against the Dark Arts, or indeed, any type of defensive spell work. You must defend yourselves first and foremost, and then worry about others. Mister Malfoy, why shouldn't you worry about hurting other students in this class?" Scorpius thought for a minute and held up three fingers.

"If you worry about hurting others, you'll end up getting hurt yourself because the person you're fighting against will probably take the shot while you're hesitating." He put one finger down. "In this particular lesson you've suggested we'll be casting spells that cannot hurt anyone else." One finger remained in the air. "Finally, if we do hurt anyone, it can be easily fixed. Hogwarts has a Hospital Wing." Viridian smiled.

"Five points to Slytherin for a well-reasoned answer. Callousness is not a weakness in a one-on-one situation. If you are uncertain whether to attack or defend, always defend. You will have other chances to attack, but in a duel you wont always have another chance to defend. If you are fighting as a team, there are, of course, other concerns. Miss Hart." Grace's heart leapt into her throat. Why was he picking on them, rather than asking general questions? "What is the hardest decision in those situations?" Her mind went blank. How should she know? She'd never fought anyone – flinging mud at Alex didn't count.

"Is it… still the same?" He looked surprised.

"To some extent. In particular, I was looking for an argument involving streamlined spell work. You must know to defend whilst your teammates attack, and attack whilst they defend. But you must do so wordlessly, almost instinctively, without giving clues to your opponents. It is a skill that only comes with practice. But we will not be working on that this year. Mister Potter, aside from fireworks, what other uses are there for Red and Green Sparks?"

"Communication." Albus didn't even think. "You can indicate if you're in trouble, or use them as a prearranged signal."

"Miss Bletchley. Stand up." Harriet jolted out of her seat so fast that it toppled over behind her. "Hold out your wand." She did so. Viridian hobbled over to her, neatly picked her wand out of her hand, and sighed deeply. "Five points from Slytherin." Harriet went bright red and looked like she was about to cry. "Miss Zabini, what did Miss Bletchley do wrong?"

"I don't know," Celia said, sounding horrified. Viridian slammed his hand on the desk.

"Class, you will never utter the words '_I don't know_' within this classroom. If you do not know the right answer, you will always make your best educated guess. Now _think_. You saw it with your own eyes. What did Miss Bletchley do wrong?"

"She let you take her wand," Celia said, somewhat angrily.

"_Exactly_. Never let an opponent disarm you."

"But you're not my opponent!" Harriet cried. "We weren't duelling." Viridian smiled again, and Grace found the smile to be incredibly unsettling.

"You may never know who your opponents are. In life, Miss Bletchley, you will be attacked from all quarters and you will not always be warned ahead of time." He gave her back her wand. "That is why we have this class. You may sit back down." She did so, having to pick her chair up first.

"Mister Bucket. Stand up." Marlowe stood slowly and smoothly. Sebastian barely contained a snigger. For some reason he found Marlowe's surname incredibly funny. "Show me how you hold your wand." Marlowe held his wand up. "Yes, in essence, you have a good grip." Viridian reached out and Marlowe's fingers instinctively tightened. He wasn't going to make Harriet's mistake. Viridian was faintly amused. "But how do you plan to cast any spells? Write your name in the air." Marlowe frowned. "Ha! You see? You've severely restricted your movement. The best grip starts with a V between your first finger and thumb. That is where the wand must sit. Then curl your fingers around. Yes, like that. This is your standard defensive grip." He held Marlowe's arm up for everyone to see. Belinda leant forward across the desk to get a better look. "There are others, in particular, the attacking grip allows for more finesse and accuracy in the cast by extending the forefinger along the length of the wand, but for now, I want you all to adopt this position."

He hobbled up and down, checking all of their grips, grunting when he particularly approved. Then he made Belinda come to the front and demonstrate how to perform Red Sparks. Slytherin earned five points for the successful cast. He then took away three points because not all of the sparks had been red. Grace thought this was completely unfair. When Jeremy was asked to perform Green Sparks he hadn't even managed to pull it off, but he was given three points for his embarrassing attempt.

* * *

"It's the way he builds your confidence and then smashes it back down!" Celia complained as they made their way to lunch later that day. "I can't stand it!" There was an angry chorus from Harriet and Belinda.

"I thought he was really good," Albus said quietly from the back of the group. "I mean he made me think about things I wouldn't have connected with Defence Against the Dark Arts at all." Harriet grudgingly agreed that this was so.

"Well I'm particularly glad we've gotten that lesson out of the way," Grace murmured. She had a feeling she wasn't going to be any good at Defence.

"Me too," Sebastian said, although when he said it he put a completely different inflection on her words. "Can you imagine if we'd done something easier like Herbology first? Viridian would have completely taken us by surprise. I bet the other first year classes will soften up in comparison."

"I'm not sure about Herbology," Scorpius muttered, "But I hear Professer Binns is still teaching History of Magic. Apparently he loves the sound of his own voice so much he wouldn't miss us if we weren't there." Wedby and Marlowe snickered.

Sure enough, History of Magic turned out to be one of the most boring lessons. Grace couldn't understand it. It was Timothy's favourite subject, and she particularly remembered him reading out stories about great uprisings and dragon slayers. It had seemed incredibly exciting. How Proffessor Binns could recite the events in such a monotonous tone of voice was beyond her, but she found it hard to keep her eyes open with him droning on and on.

She had a similar problem with Astrology, probably because the class took place at midnight, and by then she was usually fast asleep. She rather liked _looking_ at planets, but charting out their orbits and interactions felt a little tedious when she felt like there was little use for it.

Charms class with Professor Flitwick was incredibly fun. Not only did she think the Deputy Headmaster was incredibly sweet when he was excitable, but the fact that he had to stand on a pile of books just to see over his desk was adorable. He was so enthusiastic about his lessons that Grace greatly enjoyed the class, and learnt the spells better than she would have in another classroom. Having fun was particularly conducive to her learning, and Viridian's lessons were more in the opposite direction.

They had Herbology with Professor Longbottom three times a week, who was very friendly and seemed to be on fantastic terms with Albus because he'd been roommates with Albus' dad. Harriet had gigglingly confessed that she had a bit of a crush on him, since he'd destroyed a Horcrux and all.

Transfiguration had completely disappointed them. Seridies Saxelby, a rather daffy young witch, had hesitatingly lectured them about the importance of entropy in changing the properties of objects for so long that they had no time to practice sharpening the matches she'd handed out at the beginning of the lesson, let alone trying to transform them into pins. It was the kind of lesson that told you all you needed to know about a teacher. Namely that they were going to have to do a lot of extra practice to keep on top of things.

When Friday finally rolled around, Grace felt like there wasn't any room left inside her head, and so was glad that their only lesson was double potions with the Gryffindors. Yet again, the Slytherins arrived early, but moving from the dungeons to the potions classroom wasn't exactly time consuming. The Gryffindors common room was on the seventh floor, and understandably they weren't there yet.

"Can you imagine climbing up seven flights of stairs _every_ morning?" Jeremy groaned.

"It's a good thing Paula's only on the second or third floor then, huh?" Marlowe commented, nudging Sebastian who grinned. Celia rolled her eyes. It had been almost two days since their last Paula joke, but now that it had been brought up again, everyone knew the subject wouldn't drop for at least twenty minutes.

Fortunately a distraction arrived in the form of a bunch of Gryffindor girls. Two of them giggled when they saw Albus. This, too, happened rather frequently. Although nowhere near as frequently as for James, Grace had noticed. To her disbelief she'd even caught some girls giggling when Alex Carlsdale passed by. The notion that anyone could possibly find anything remotely attractive about him was staggering. James had surprised her by generally brushing off the attention with that fake smile she'd discovered he possessed. Grace had expected him to be thoroughly enjoying the adoration, Alex certainly did. Albus, on the other hand, tended to look sheepish and stare at his shoes, which was what he was doing now. The third, whose blonde hair spilled impossibly far down her back, had been in mid-conversation with the two of them. She looked disinterestedly at the Slytherins before resuming as if they didn't exist. Grace couldn't remember their names at all.

"I can't believe Ola's _already_ trying to talk tactics with the Quidditch team – I mean, I _know_ her dad played for England, but _really_, what makes her think that she'll be _half_ as good?" The other two resumed rather serious expressions.

"Claire, we don't really have a problem with that," the first girl replied. She had ridiculous pompom-like bunches on either side of her head. "We were only complaining because we like James Potter."

"I wish _I_ had something to talk to him about," the second girl sighed, blushing prettily. She had a shy smile and a three quarter parting in her copper coloured hair. They glanced back at Albus, who was staring at his shoes with renewed vigour, and giggled again.

"Guys!" a forth girl came running up to them, her glasses hanging off of her face. She tried to push them back and winced as she almost poked herself in one of her grey eyes. She was breathless, and her brown hair shot out in all directions behind her. "Oh, guys! You missed it! Todd fell into a trick staircase _headfirst_ and we can't get him out!"

"Linn," Claire said, putting her hand on her hip. Grace thought she was really bossy. "If that's the case, why did you run to tell us rather than getting help?" Linn blinked at her.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" she asked. "Phillip went to get a prefect, and I came here to make sure that the Professor knew what was going on. It would be nice if we could avoid getting in trouble first thing, don't you think?" Linn smiled at the Slytherins. "Hi!" She looked around, suddenly perplexed. "Isn't Maxwell here yet? He wasn't with us on the stairs."

"I'm here," a tired voice said as a thin boy with dark hair trudged up to them, leading the fifth girl, presumably Ola, by the hand. Her curly brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail. "We got a bit held up," he muttered.

"Did you see-?" Linn started to explain about Todd's unfortunate accident with a trick stair, but Maxwell nodded and held up a hand before she could elaborate further.

"Yes, yes," he acknowledged tiredly. "_Everyone_ saw. The others will be here in a minute. Fortunately there was a Ravenclaw prefect passing." Grace wondered whether it had been Timothy. There was no reason it should be, since every house had six prefects (two from fifth, sixth and seventh year) including the head boy and girl. Moments later the other four boys were headed towards them. At which point the door opened and Professor Moors stared severely down at them all.

"In future," she whispered from her towering height. "I would appreciate it if you made less noise first thing in the morning, Miss Ackerley." Linn blushed and tilted her head down in embarrassment. "Quickly and quietly file in and be seated with whoever you're next to in the line. There will be no fuss about partners. Any ruckus will result in immediate separation from your friends, do you understand?"

They nodded, knowing better than to chorus a reply. Linn couldn't help herself, she muttered a subdued '_Yes, Miss_'. Grace thought she caught the flicker of a smile on Professor Moor's face, and wondered if the professor was really as bad as she seemed.

"Potions can be very dangerous," Professor Moors said, standing at the front as they filed into the fume-filled room to take their seats. "The slightest inattention can ruin an entire brew. This is not merely a _waste_ of _precious_ ingredients, but can be quite _explosive_. _Believe_ me, you will not like being _burned_ by acid. If you are too loud, you may not hear the proper instructions, and it is for this reason that I am _vigilant_ about mischief-makers. You pose a danger, not only to yourself, but to everyone around you, and I will not abide such behaviour in my classroom."

One of the Gryffindor boys muttered something. Grace turned around to say something about Alex's pranks to Celia.

"Miss Hart, face the front," Professor Moors said sharply. Grace blushed and dutifully did so. "I have a eidetic memory," the professor continued. "So I know who you are already, but since this is your first lesson with a new house, in the spirit of inter-house cooperation, I will allow you each thirty seconds to introduce yourselves. Mister Stoke," she addressed the Gryffindor boy on the end of the row. "You may begin."

"Um," he seemed completely unprepared for the demand. "Hi, I'm Roger. Uh. I like the Caerphilly Caterpults." He was probably Welsh, Grace decided, judging from his accent. He'd made some attempt to style his chestnut brown hair into spikes, but he'd run out of time, or had been inattentive, because parts of it were drooping back down into his eyes.

"I'm Francis Boot," the blonde beside him spoke through a heavy yawn. All his hair was swept towards his central parting. "Sorry, we stayed up all night talking about Quidditch teams," he explained sheepishly. Professor Moors nodded, and looked towards the next boy. When she'd said thirty seconds, she really meant it.

"Phillip Thomas," a dark skinned boy with short, neat, dark spirals of hair and a thick London accent announced himself like a soldier for comedic affect. "Interests: West Ham United, Muggle Football and the Saxophone." Again, Professor Moors was inclined to smile but valiantly removed the expression from her face.

"I… uh." Since they'd already met Maxwell, the final boy could only have been the unfortunate Todd. His hair was cropped to his scalp and swirls were shaved into it extending backwards from his right ear. "I hit my head a minute ago, but I hope I'm still Todd Turpin."

"I'm Claire Meadows," the bossy blonde said, surveying them all for their reaction. "I cannot see the appeal of working up a sweat for a stupid game."

"Uh, I-" Linn broke off as she dropped her glasses from nerves and dove quickly to retrieve them, trying her best to ignore the sniggering. "I'm Linn Ackerley, and my favourite colour's red!"

"Ola Wood," the curly haired girl all but shouted. Grace blinked with some surprise. She'd expected her to be nervous since she'd been dragged there by Maxwell. "I love Quidditch, and I feel _pity_ for anyone who doesn't!" Grace saw Claire scowl and thought it was probably an excellent thing that the two of them weren't sitting together.

"Maxwell Mendip," the boy who'd dragged her here said, dully. "I have nothing interesting to add." He waved his hand at the pompom girl to take over.

"Coraline Moon," she announced. "My dream at Hogwarts is to learn how to fly and to make a lot of friends."

"And marry James Potter," Scorpius muttered under his breath, but since his bench with Albus was next to Grace and Celia's, they heard him clearly and Celia snorted with laughter.

"My name is Marinette Corner," the final Gryffindor said, pushing her three-quarter parting out of her eye for the fifth time so far that minute. She smiled shyly, but the next words that emerged from her mouth really shocked Grace. "And I'd like to marry James Potter too!" Celia giggled and shot Marinette a thumbs-up as Scorpius' ears went red. He hadn't thought he'd been overheard.

"That's telling him!" Celia said, far too earnestly.

"Miss Zabini, wait your turn," Proffessor Moors said sternly from the front.

"Wedby Warrington." She eyed the Gryffindors carefully in case they snickered. "I hate my name, but if you laugh at it, I'll give you a black eye." Francis Boot whistled.

"Ah, um." Harriet's voice shook with nervousness. "I'm Harriet Bletchley, and I'm… I like… rabbits?" Marlowe Bucket, who was next in line, choked on his sentence along with half of the rest of the room. Harriet was completely pink and buried her face in her hands. Apparently she did not do well with self-introductions. When Marlowe had recovered he stood up, grinning like an idiot.

"I'm Jeremy Winters and I love Paula!" Sebastian started laughing so loudly Grace thought he was having a fit.

"I do not!" Jeremy shouted, standing up himself from where he sat with Belinda, fantastically red in the face. "I'm going to turn your Cat into a carpet, Marlowe!" Belinda actually let out a small scream at the words.

"Enough!" Professor Moors snapped. "Very funny Mister Bucket." If anything, Marlowe's surname made Sebastian laugh even louder. "Mister Cauldwell, have you quite finished? Mister Bucket and Mister Winters, _please sit down_."

"This is Sebastian," Marlowe said, nudging his friend with his foot when Sebastian couldn't stop laughing long enough to say his name. "As you can tell, he can't breathe."

"Mister Cauldwell," Professor Moors spoke very icily. "Do you need to go outside to calm down?" Sebastian shook his head, and with a great effort managed to pull himself together again. Professor Moors looked expectantly, not at Jeremy, but at Belinda. Jeremy didn't seem to mind this, because he was still seething over Marlowe's joke. Grace wondered whether he would ever work out that it was his over-reactions that made the joke entertaining to the two boys. In a way, she'd started to reevaluate what made her such a good target for Alex and James. It was probably a similar reason.

"Belinda Montague. I love animals." The little scream at Jeremy's threat and her interest in going to tea at Hagrid's suddenly made sense to Grace who poked Celia to reinforce the point. Celia kicked her ankle and raised her eyebrows expectantly, and Grace realised it was her turn.

"Oh, I'm Grace." What had she planned to say again? She couldn't remember. She stuck with the old favourite. "I'm afraid of fire." Celia looked surprised.

"I'm Celia Zabini," she said. "I'd like to be a model one day." Grace nodded, nothing she didn't already know.

"Scorpius Malfoy." He hesitated. "Try talking to me before deciding you hate me." Celia and Grace looked at him, but he steadfastly didn't meet their eyes. Glancing at one another, the girls wondered if they had missed something.

"Albus Potter." He seemed genuinely unsure of what to say after Scorpius' statement. "I am wary of rock cakes," he said, hesitantly. Scorpius suddenly laughed, and Grace figured Albus had been trying to cheer him up. She felt a pang of jealousy that they had already established inside jokes. It was just a reminder that the two of them, and Belinda, would all be going to Hagrid's later. Grace wished she'd been more courageous and taken him up on the offer when she had the chance.

"Today we will be learning the most basic of potions: the Cure for Boils. I'm putting the instructions on the board."

Professor Moors waved her wand and words magically appeared at the front of the room:

"**Cure for Boils**  
_Crush 6 Snake Fangs and add 4 measures to cauldron.  
Heat to high temperature for 10 seconds.  
Brew for **45 minutes**.  
Add 4 Horned Slugs to cauldron with 2 Porcupine Quills and stir 5 times clockwise._"

"Pay particular attention to precision. Prepare your ingredients as much as possible ahead of time in order to keep to the exact timings. As you advance in the field of potion-making you will learn that the times given are dependent upon the type of cauldron you use. As you should all be using the Hogwarts standard Pewter Cauldron, size 2, I have adjusted the times for you. In later years you will be responsible for adjusting the times yourselves. Since this potion requires almost no preparation, and needs to brew for 45 minutes, I will lecture you whilst the potion is underway. You may begin."

"Well," Celia said, turning to Grace expectantly. "How hard can this be?" Grace grinned, picked up the pestle and mortar and found the little bag of teeth she expected was probably snake fangs.

"You don't think there's still venom in these, do you?" she asked, whispering because she was nervous Professor Moors would have a go at her again.

"There's venom in snake teeth?" Celia asked, looking totally baffled.

"Actually," Belinda said, pausing by them as she crossed the room with one of the large hourglasses Professor Moors had left on the bench for them. "The venom is located in glands right next to the teeth. As the teeth enter the victim, the glands secrete the poison, thus making the snake's bite venomous." She smiled at Grace. "In other words, the teeth are completely safe by themselves. If we were talking about a Basilisk that would be another matter."

"Thank you," Grace said, amazed at Belinda's knowledge.

As Belinda crossed back to Jeremy, Celia leant over and grumbled: "What a show off!"

Grace bit down on her lip, feeling her frustration rise and channelled that frustration into crushing the snake teeth into a fine powder. She didn't know what Celia's problem was. Seeing that Grace had the crushing covered, Celia leant back to talk to Albus and Scorpius.

"Are you really going to Hagrid's with her today?" Celia asked. Grace rolled her eyes. Celia could have done something helpful like gone to get them a timer. Albus looked surprised.

"Who?" He looked at Scorpius questioningly, who shrugged. Celia pointed in Belinda's direction.

"I mean she just invited herself along. You could have said no. You don't _have_ to take her with you." Grace attacked the snake fangs with renewed vigour, making short work of the task. She glanced at Celia, who made no move to do anything to help, rolled her eyes again and measured out the crushed snake fangs into the cauldron.

"I'm not going to uninvite her if she wants to come. It sounds like she really likes magical creatures. I actually think Hagrid might really get along with her. Dad says Hagrid's never really been able to convince him to see any of his pets with the same affection he did." Grace nodded approvingly, and left to get a timer. When she returned, she caught Scorpius' eye. He looked bothered by Celia's line of questioning.

"What are you trying to achieve?" he asked, as Grace lit the fire under the cauldron.

"Achieve?" Celia's expression became angelic. Grace would have liked to turn and see Albus' reaction but she was keeping an eye on the cauldron, trying to see when the temperature became hot enough for her to start counting to ten. "What are you talking about Scorpius? I'm not trying to _achieve_ anything. I simply don't think it's right for people to invite themselves along when they're not wanted."

"I've just said," Albus said, somewhat tensely. "I do want her to come."

"More than me?" Celia asked, her eyes growing impossibly round. Grace killed the heat on the cauldron and flipped the hourglass. Then she crossed her arms and turned to face the others. She was completely furious with Celia, but perhaps to Albus it looked like she was angry with him, especially when Celia followed up with the words: "More than Grace?" Albus shifted awkwardly on his feet.

"Celia!" Grace snapped, and Celia jumped at the ferocity of it. "He already asked us if we wanted to come, and you said _no_. If you've changed your mind, say so. If you try to manipulate Albus into uninviting Belinda just so you can go instead, that's _terrible. Especially_ when Belinda only asked because she was so excited at the prospect. She wasn't trying to impose on anyone. Don't make her out to be a bad person. She's my friend." Celia was so shocked by the outburst that she turned several shades paler than usual. Then she sat down on her seat, stuck her nose into the air, and completely refused to talk to anyone. She was only relatively mollified when she noticed that Grace had done all the potion work for them.

Albus and Scorpius stared at Grace with open mouths. Grace looked at the three of them. It occurred to her that they had never seen her get angry with someone, and she suddenly realised that Alex hadn't been nasty to her _all week_. It was exactly the opposite of what she'd expected, especially since she'd been sorted into Slytherin. A feeling of dread filled her stomach. Maybe he was biding his time. Plotting a truly awful scheme.

"Grace," Scorpius said, a little awed. "When you stand up to someone, you _really_ stand up to them. That came from nowhere!" Grace was surprised.

"You're usually so quiet," Albus agreed.

"Well I was almost sorted into Hufflepuff," she admitted, quietly.

"Humph!" Celia said, but when Grace looked at her, a small smile had started to cross Celia's face. "I suppose it's not a terrible thing to stand up for your friends." She looked back to Albus and Scorpius. "I'm sorry. I was just feeling left out."

"I should have guessed," Scorpius said, shaking his head. "You always feel left out if you're not the centre of attention." Celia blushed. She wasn't insulted. It was entirely true.

* * *

Author Notes:

I feel like I covered so much in this chapter, but I checked the word count against the first chapter and it was actually a little short, so I extended it to include all of the lessons I'd been planning to put in chapter 3! Well, yet again I introduced a million new characters. In fact, we only have one Weasley left of the ones in Hogwarts. I love Lucy. She's so hateful. Very fun to write :P I had an important note... yes! Rosie says that the Ravenclaws and Slytherins share Herbology. I don't know if this is actually true for first year, but since Harry shared Herbology lessons with the Hufflepuffs in later years I decided to extrapolate it backwards so we see more of Rose. I love the Slytherins, but they are a bit mean. Celia will calm down next chapter. She really didn't have any good reason to be so nasty to Belinda once Belinda started acting normally, but Celia finds it quite hard to ignore her first impression of people. She'll probably have a similar problem with Rose... but I'm not going to write about that. There are a couple of major events I want to write, but I'm planning to jump through the rest of first year fairly quickly. Maybe we'll even have Halloween at the end of the next chapter? As always, reviews are loved and appreciated.

Luv Ya

XxMookinexX

©2013 XxMookinexX. All rights reserved. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of XxMookinexX.


	3. The Lonely Girl

_**Seven Years in Slytherin  
**_XxMookinexX

Based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.

* * *

**First Year, Part Three**_  
_The Lonely Girl

"If she was really as ruthless as she liked to pretend, she'd have picked Slytherin in the first place."  
On Lucy Weasley, Inheritance

Saturday morning was overcast. Rain splattered down outside. The Slytherins had seen as much when they had breakfasted in the Great Hall, but the view from their common room was as tranquil as ever. Fish swam by the submerged windows, unaffected by the weather. Belinda Montague stood with a hand pressed against the glass, her fingers splayed. She sighed.

"Did you know, today is my birthday?"

All activity amongst the Slytherin first years stopped. Unfortunately for Jeremy, the distraction had caused Marlowe to overshoot his gobstone so that it exploded. Green goo splattered unattractively all over his robes, and dripped down his face as he gasped in surprise. When the thick liquid threatened to drip into his open mouth, he spluttered and tried to wipe it away. As their little group tittered at his misfortune a passing seventh year took pity on him and spelled the mess away. But Scorpius was not to be distracted.

"What?" he asked, dropping the book he'd been holding onto his lap. "It's your birthday?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Sebastian asked, sounding disproportionately alarmed. The wizard's chesspiece he'd been holding was grumbling about being dropped in a less than tactical position. Wedby, his opponent, was already capitalising on his mistake by moving her Knight into a position where both Sebastian's Rook and Queen were threatened and the Rook was cowering under the Queen's glare. "We should be celebrating!"

"Where did you say the kitchens were, Albus?" Harriet asked, turning to him eagerly, tossing her blonde hair behind her shoulders. "Do you reckon they do cake?"

"Of course they do cake, Harriet," Celia said scornfully, not looking up from the parchment she was writing on. "They're houseelves. They can do _anything_."

"It's on the second floor," Albus started to explain, but he wasn't certain that Harriet was still listening to him. Besides which, Marlowe immediately cut him off.

"I nominate Jeremy!" Wedby groaned and nudged him with her foot. They'd deduced that the Hufflepuff common room must be somewhere near the second floor. This was obviously some kind of Paula joke. Again. The other Slytherins were completely bored with it already, but Marlowe and Sebastian still seemed to think it was the funniest joke in the world. It just went to show how very poor their senses of humour were.

"I second that!" Sebastian agreed, far too gleefully. Jeremy glowered at them, but didn't protest. He was learning. If he didn't rise to their bait, they'd quickly lose interest in teasing him. At least, the first years hoped so. Otherwise measures were going to have to be taken.

"I'll go," Grace volunteered. It wasn't completely out of pity. She rather wanted to see the kitchens, having heard so much about them. Besides, she'd like to get Belinda a cake. Especially if it gave her an excuse to avoid the Transfiguration homework she'd been struggling to complete.

"You don't have to," Belinda protested blithely. "I was just regretting the weather being so dreadful."

"Don't be ridiculous," Celia tutted. "Of course we're going to celebrate your birthday. It's just a shame we don't have any presents." Grace smiled. Celia had been noticeably nicer to Belinda since their argument on Friday. That being said, it was obvious Celia wasn't planning to come with her. She was sitting with her feet up on Scorpius' lap, doodling artfully in the corner of her Astronomy homework. Harriet was watching the two of them interestedly.

"Where did you say the kitchens were?" Grace asked, hoping that someone else would volunteer to come with her. It wasn't that she had no sense of direction, but the castle was huge, and she hadn't been to all of it yet.

"It's easier if I just show you," Albus said, glancing around them. Grace was relieved and flashed him a grateful smile.

"I don't mind coming," Jeremy said quietly, standing to join them. He looked apologetically at Marlowe for abandoning their game. "I think I've lost enough for one day."

"I'll play!" Harriet said excitedly, moving to sit down in Jeremy's vacated place. As the three of them left, Belinda turned back to the window with a sigh. Grace wondered if Belinda was the sort of person who didn't like to be fussed over. More likely, she hated being pent up indoors.

* * *

"Jeremy," Albus asked thoughtfully as they walked along the corridors on the second floor. "How do you know Paula? From the train?" Jeremy shot Albus a look of deep betrayal.

"I'm curious as well," Grace commented, looking at Jeremy inquisitively. She hadn't really gotten to know Sebastian, Marlowe or Jeremy. The other two acted out quite a lot, and reminded her of Alex and James in a way that was not pleasing. Jeremy, however, was more of a mystery. He was quiet when he wasn't being humiliated. During the first few days he'd seemed absolutely miserable. But he seemed peaceable enough now. Despite all the grief he got from Sebastian and Marlowe, he seemed to enjoy their company well enough.

"Yeah," Jeremy agreed, but he looked a little mutinous at being forced to admit it. "We shared a compartment."

"And you're upset that she went to Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin?" Grace asked, more to clarify than anything else. "I think that's perfectly natural."

"No." Jeremy stopped dead and shook his head at the two of them. "It had nothing to do with her. I was upset because I _didn't_ want to be a Slytherin." Albus and Grace exchanged a look. They could see why Jeremy might have hesitated to tell anyone why he was grumpy. Especially around Scorpius or Celia. "I stupidly said that I didn't mind where I went, never thinking the hat might _actually_ put me in Slytherin. Don't misunderstand. I don't hate Slytherin. Now that I've met you all, it's really not so bad, but I… I'd asked a lot of questions about the houses, since I was raised as a Muggle." He hesitated, on the brink of some kind of emotional breakdown. He'd started shaking. Grace shot Albus a look of alarm, but Albus wasn't looking at her. His whole attention was on Jeremy, who was breathing raggedly. "I didn't realise I'd be, you know, _eligible_. Mum and Dad-" he chocked on the words. "They're _both_ Muggles. I'm _sure_. They were very surprised when I got my letter. It wasn't acting. They wouldn't lie about it." Albus went to Jeremy's side then and gripped his arm. Jeremy reigned in his voice, and his next words were no louder than a whisper. "People told me Muggle-borns weren't allowed in Slytherin." Grace looked at Albus for advice. She had no idea what to say in this situation. She'd never thought that a student might be in this situation before. "What does that mean?" Jeremy continued, and Grace was startled as he started to cry. Openly. Apart from Alex, she'd never seen a boy cry before. "Are they really my parents?" he sobbed, and Albus hugged him, casting a panic-filled look at the corridor around them. "Am I adopted?"

"I don't know, Jeremy," Albus said. Grace swallowed and took one or two steps closer to them. She reached out and gingerly patted Jeremy on the back.

"I'm so sorry, Jeremy," she whispered. "I'm so sorry." Jeremy wept, crumpling into a miserable pile of limbs against the corridor wall. Albus and Grace crouched on either side of him, sympathetic onlookers to the internal trauma finally exploding into the open. "Can I get you anything?" she asked, wishing there was something she could do. Jeremy shook his head.

"I just… don't understand," he choked out, his throat tight. "Why wouldn't they tell me? Whatever the reason they've been lying to me all this time."

Grace wanted to say that the blood prejudice might not be true anymore, but the prejudice came from Salazar Slytherin himself. Even if it was true that more and more halfbloods were being accepted into the house, she'd never heard of a Muggleborn Slytherin before. Maybe Jeremy was the first? But was that likely? Could there ever be a Muggleborn Slytherin would want? She frowned and kept her silence. She doubted these thoughts would help Jeremy.

"Maybe they couldn't?" Albus suggested. "I doubt they wanted to upset you. Or maybe they saw no reason to tell you? Maybe they think of you as their son, and that's the end of it? I don't claim to know anything about your position," he said, scratching the back of his head. "But I'm sure that the best way to get the answers is to ask them about it. I mean, there are all kinds of reasons to adopt, aren't there? Just because you're adopted, doesn't mean you're any less loved."

"Maybe," Jeremy muttered, although he didn't look very convinced. He rubbed at his face. Albus nodded.

"Can you guys wait here?" he asked. "I'm going to grab something quickly. I'll be right back."

"Uh." Grace panicked as Albus got up and hurried down the corridor. "Sure," she whispered as he rounded the corner out of sight. She looked uncertainly back at Jeremy, who looked awkwardly away from her. Somehow the situation had become a lot more embarrassing without Albus' mediating presence. She bit her lip and sat cross-legged beside him, desperately searching for something to say.

"Sorry," Jeremy said. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since the sorting."

"Don't worry about it. I'd be way worse in your position," she muttered, trying to downplay it to reduce the uneasiness between them. "I mean, my nose runs when I'm upset. It's really not a good look." She was joking to make him feel better, but he didn't laugh. She sighed and turned to him. "I feel bad for not asking you what was wrong sooner. I just assumed it was because Marlowe and Sebastian kept teasing you, and I guessed the last thing you'd want was to talk about it." Jeremy leant his head back against the wall.

"No. Those two drive me crazy sometimes, but they're great. They knew I was upset about something and that's their way of cheering me up. They made it easier not to think about… about whoever my _real_ parents might have been and _why_ they didn't want me." Grace was startled.

"But, you know… being adopted proves that your parents _really_ wanted to have you in their lives." Jeremy laughed slightly.

"I hadn't thought of it that way." A comfortable silence settled over them. "Where did Albus _go_?" Jeremy wondered suddenly.

"I really have no idea." She looked down the corridor the way Albus had disappeared. "Maybe the kitchens?" she suggested. "I can't be sure. My sense of direction still isn't very good, but didn't we come from over there?" She pointed the opposite way.

"Gra-ace," a singsong voice called loudly from behind her. She whipped around. "Gra-ace, Je-re-my, where _are_ you?" Grace frowned.

"James?" she asked the thin air.

James Potter's face appeared from around the corner, followed by the rest of him.

"Hey kids," he greeted, strutting over to them, all smiles. "Albus asked me to fetch you." Grace was deeply sceptical.

"Where to?" she asked, archly. James feigned a wounded expression, and extended a hand to her.

"Aw, Grace. Don't you trust me?" She snorted, but she took his hand and let him help her up. "See." He grinned. "I'm not so bad." She shook her head, remembering the train ride here. He was exactly that bad, and she shouldn't forget that just because he was nice to her from time to time.

"This is Albus' brother," she told Jeremy, holding out a hand to him and helping him up in turn. "He's a horrible person beneath all the charm. If he ever offers you a sweet, don't take it."

"Grace, that was _one _time."

"And I was sick for an _hour_. Don't pretend to be someone you're not, James," she told him, very seriously. The double meaning made his eyes widen.

"Er, yeah." He had the decency to look embarrassed. "About that-" She held up a hand. She was so tired of him and Alex ruining her day for no good reason. She was going to try and take a leaf out of Jeremy's book. She wouldn't rise to the challenge.

"Save it, I don't care anymore." She wanted nothing to do with them. "If you're honestly taking us to Albus, lead on. Otherwise I'm never going to talk to you again." She blushed. It was a terrible threat. No one would be scared or intimidated by it. But she didn't mean it in a petulant way. She meant she wouldn't take his word for something ever again. James sighed.

"The kitchens are this way," he said. He looked back at Jeremy. "Are you feeling better?" When Jeremy looked confused he elaborated, "Al said you weren't feeling good." Grace smiled slightly. It wasn't a lie. Albus had phrased it very carefully. She thought back to his words comforting Jeremy and her smile softened even more. Albus really had been amazing. He'd calmly told Jeremy exactly what he needed to hear without claiming to have all the answers. More than ever, she was glad that Albus had been sorted into Slytherin. She really wanted to be his friend.

"M'fine," Jeremy muttered, blushing slightly and looking away from Grace, who extended the smile to include him. It was a difficult thing, being eleven. The embarrassment of childishness never truly left, but lingered.

"Riiiiiiight," James drawled, looking between them. "We're here." They stopped in front of a portrait of a bowl of fruit. "You have to tickle the pear." He reached out and his fingers brushed over the fruit. It giggled and writhed under his fingertips. Then the painting swung forward, allowing them to see the kitchens beyond. James gestured for Grace and Jeremy to go first. She scowled at him, still wary of deception, but went through, allowing Jeremy to trudge in after her. Four large tables occupied the right of the room in a perfect copy of the great hall. For some reason she'd always thought the food appeared through the floor, but if they were on the second floor, the food must appear through other magical means.

Albus was deep in conversation with Alex Carlsdale. They sat opposite one another at the table nearest the entrance. Grace scowled. She should have known. James and Alex were inseparable. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Hey," James greeted, almost skipping as he went around the bench to sit next to his brother. "You got hot chocolate!" Five steaming mugs sat on the table. Albus and Alex looked up at them. Grace froze under Alex's glare. She grabbed Jeremy's arm and manoeuvred him to sit on her right, a human shield between her and Alex.

"I got you hot chocolate," Albus explained needlessly, pushing the mugs towards them. "How are you feeling?" Jeremy shrugged.

"Did you ask if they had cake?" Grace asked, not to be distracted from their initial goal. With Alex and James here, she was a lot less interested in watching the houseelves bustle around and a lot more invested in leaving as soon as possible.

"Yeah, Kreacher'll bring it along in a minute," Albus said, and pushed the mugs of hot chocolate towards them. "Drink up. Dad says chocolate's the best thing to make you feel better." Grace was careful to let Jeremy sit between her and Alex so that she had a human shield. He'd been glaring at her from the moment he'd spotted her, and it made her skin prickle uncomfortably.

"How nice," James said, looking nostalgic and talking to no one in particular. "We haven't had a birthday in _ages_!"

"It was your birthday last month, James," Alex grumbled. James grinned. A proper smile, Grace thought as James extended the grin to include everyone else.

"But we weren't at Hogwarts then, were we?" James shook his head as if Alex had said something completely thoughtless and turned his attention to Albus' friends. "How's Slytherin?" he asked Grace, leaning forward so that they could converse properly even though they were at the most extreme diagonal from one another. "I don't think I got a chance to ask you the other day." Well of course not, he'd been too busy making up for being an idiot. But she wished James hadn't brought the subject up because she'd caught Alex's expression darkening even more out of the corner of her eye and winced pre-emptively. James shot Alex a look, prompting Alex to roll his eyes and slump moodily down in his seat. Grace pursed her lips. Honestly, Alex was such a piece of work! But she wasn't going to rise to the bait.

"I'm enjoying it so far, thanks. Sorry I didn't take your advice." James looked lost.

"Advice?" he echoed, clearly not remembering giving her any.

"About giving Gryffindor a chance," she repeated, very deliberately not putting the same inflection on the words that he had originally. James' eyes widened, and he glanced so quickly in Alex's direction that Grace thought he was panicked. For a second, she dared to believe that James had been hinting that Alex wanted her to be a Gryffindor so they could be friends, but she quickly saw from Alex's expression that this wasn't the case. Alex was giving James the kind of look that clearly said he thought his best friend was mad. Grace was irritated with herself. Clearly Alex hated her as much now as he ever had, if not more so. But in that case she was once again completely clueless about what James had been trying to say. Maybe he hadn't meant to imply anything. Maybe he planned to confuse her to death.

"Right," James said, regaining his composure. "Well. Sure. No worries." He glanced at Jeremy. "This is Alex by the way. Alex, meet Jeremy."

As Alex stiffly said hello, Grace turned to Albus and whispered behind her hand: "How come you sent James to get us?"

Albus shook his head and replied in a similar manner: "I didn't. James ran out to get you on his own."

Grace shook her head. That was just like James.

"Why're you eating cookies when Lunch is so soon?" Jeremy asked the two Gryffindors, and Grace finally noticed the half-empty plate of cookies beside them. After several sips of hot chocolate Jeremy's face had reverted back to its usual bored expression.

"We've got tryouts, so we need extra energy," James explained and grinned at Albus, who rolled his eyes and sipped at his hot chocolate. Grace followed suit and licked her lips greedily at the taste. There were marshmallows! "Pity you guys don't get to play Quidditch until next year." Albus pulled a face, and James cackled.

"What positions do you play?" Jeremy asked, curiously. He'd picked up enough of the rules from Marlowe to know what questions to ask. Grace sat forward, also intrigued. Raz had said there were three spots opening up on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She wondered if both James and Alex hoped to get in.

"We're both tying for chaser," James said.

"Isn't it kind of awkward going for the same position like that?" Jeremy asked. Grace was about to explain that there were three chaser positions, when James' reply cut her off and she realised that the other two chaser spots must already be occupied.

"But there doesn't seem to be anyone who wants to take on the Keeper position, so hopefully the other one will be able to take that position as well as flying as a reserve chaser." He spoke so confidently that there could be little doubt he expected to be the one assigned to the chaser position. Grace very carefully didn't look in Alex's direction, in case that was all the ammunition he needed to explode. "If Roxy manages to get the Beater position, our team is going to be _awesome_."

"Raz said Roxy's got a problem with the other Gryffindor beater," Albus commented. James pulled a face.

"It's weird," he muttered.

"She gets angry with Finegan for no reason," Alex explained. "But then she gets furious if anyone else agrees with her about it."

"Yes," James said, struggling to keep a straight face. "I can't think who that reminds me of." They all stared at him. No one else seemed to know either. James sighed. "You see, this is why we should have brought Beth along. She would have got that."

"Cathy wouldn't?" Alex asked, completely at a loss.

"Well of course, Cathy would have laughed, but she laughs at everything! I don't feel nearly as funny."

"You have a complex," Alex stated dryly.

"There's nothing wrong with being the funniest person in the room," James said very seriously.

"Even if it's only wishful thinking," Alex agreed. James threw a cookie at him and turned back to Albus.

"What do you think?"

"About what?" Albus double-checked, struggling to work out where the conversation had gotten to.

"About my trying out for the team!" James bellowed, completely exasperated.

"Oh," Albus said. "Good luck."

"Pah," James snorted and bit into another cookie. As he spoke crumbs flew across the table. "I don't need luck. I'm awesome." But he seemed happy that Albus had said something, in spite of his words.

"Are you going to try out next year?" Jeremy asked Albus. "I know Marlowe and Scorpius want to."

"Wedby too," Grace reminded them.

"Ah, I don't know." Albus shrugged.

"Don't be a coward, Albus," James berated him. "Just because you'll be family enemy number one is no reason not to compete!" Grace glowered at James. Surely it was too soon for that kind of joke, considering his recent behaviour.

"It could also be seen as cowardly to try out just because your family is obsessed with the sport," she pointed out, and James laughed.

"You're right, I'm sorry," he said and punched Albus good-naturedly on the shoulder. "And what about you, Grace? Interested in Quidditch at all?" Alex snorted.

"What?" Grace asked, immediately rounding on him, but he ignored her and turned to James instead.

"You do realise her dad's the one who runs Quality Quidditch Supplies," he explained. Albus and James goggled at her.

"I've never been so jealous," James moaned. Grace thought this an odd thing to say considering who his father was. "You must get to see all the newest brooms as soon as they come out! Do you get to try them before they go on sale?" Grace shook her head.

"No," she said shortly.

"How come?" Albus asked, watching her curiously. She looked at Alex for advice, but he avoided her eyes. She should know better than to drag him into it, but she couldn't think what else to say than the truth. She could only hope he wouldn't become even more insufferable than usual. After all, it wasn't like she was blaming him. She'd been the terrible one.

"Okay, you know how they don't let under-tens use full sized broomsticks? I used to be the first child in London to play with the new child broomsticks, and I loved it. I showed off a lot. Especially to Alex because Timothy's never been that interested in flying, and this was before we started fighting all the time." She waved Alex away when he rolled his eyes. "I was rather evil to him," she confessed, blushing and quickly looking from face to face. She found it hard to maintain eye contact with any of them.

"How were _you_ evil to _him_?" James crooned, completely thrilled by the idea. Grace squirmed.

"I lorded it over him," she explained awkwardly because it had been worse than that. She'd delighted in making Alex extra jealous by promising to let him try her broom and then refusing to let him. Claiming she'd never promised him in the first place. "It was mean." She glanced briefly at Alex, and saw him staring at her stonily. She looked down at the table. It occurred to her that she might never have apologised for her behaviour. "I am sorry about that now," she whispered. Alex looked dubious and she cringed a little.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked.

"Well, Mum found out and was very disappointed," Grace concluded, remembering how awful she'd felt after her mum had finished talking to her. She'd explained very patiently why Grace's childishness had upset Alex. "She forbid dad from ever letting me have that privilege again, child broomstick or otherwise."

"No!" James looked horrified. "Even now? Talk about strict! I thought we had it bad," he said to Albus, who nodded. Alex stiffened.

"Oh no, it's not like that," Grace said quickly. "She wasn't strict with me. She never shouted. It was a punishment we decided on together so I wouldn't hurt someone that way again. I mean there are lots of people less fortunate than us. It's bad to take pleasure from that." She paused. "Mum didn't get to teach me as much as I would have liked, there are a million things I wish we could have done and there will always be times when I wish she was here, but I've really tried to learn from what she did tell me. I try to be kind. More than comes naturally at any rate, which is rather difficult. I find." Grace stopped, suddenly aware of how quiet the boys had become. She blushed. Had she been too whimsical? Did they think she was crazy? But Alex, for once, was smiling at her. For all their antagonism and for all the strangeness of it she had to take that as a good sign.

"Is she…?" Jeremy started a little hesitantly. "Do you mean to say…?"

"I'm really sorry, Grace," Albus whispered, and the other two echoed his sentiments. Grace blinked at them.

"Oh, no, don't be. It's not your fault. I'm sorry for making you feel awkward. I like talking about her. I forget that people don't know."

"How did she die?" Jeremy whispered.

"There was a fire," Alex said very quietly, knowing Grace didn't like talking about it. "Almost four years ago now." Grace blanked out slightly. Four years? Soon she'd have more memories without her mum than with her. The thought was very saddening.

"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked, touching her arm. She started.

"Yeah," she said and smiled. She meant it. Timothy had been in his second year. He'd come home just for the funeral. "It's not something I want to go into detail about, sorry."

"No, no." Albus shook his head wildly. "Please don't force yourself." She grinned at him. She'd had no intention of doing so, but she liked that he was naturally such a reassuring person. Jeremy started next to her. She was just about to ask him what was wrong when she saw the houseelf approaching them with a chocolate cake. He had a long pointed nose.

"I have your cake, Master Potter," Kreacher said, walking up to them.

"Wow, thanks, Kreatcher!" Albus said, carefully inspecting the cake. "It smells amazing." Kreacher nodded, self-satisfied at the notion of a job well done. Jeremy lowered his voice and turned to Grace with wide eyes.

"What is he?"

"A houseelf," she replied with a small smile. Was this the first magical creature Jeremy had come across?

"Do they all look like that?"

"Well, more or less. The ones with clothes are free, the others have devoted themselves to servitude."

"You mean they're slaves?"

"Well, sort of. It's a bit tricky. See, most houseelves are free now, thanks in a large part to Hermione Weasley – that's Rose Weasley's mum, have you met Rose? Albus' cousin? – anyway most houseelves get paid now. The problem is there are still a few who don't want to be paid. They get a bit set in their ways. I mean, you can imagine it, can't you? Some wizarding families go back generations upon generations and houseelves live for a very long time, so there are some who have served particular families all their lives and find the idea of suddenly being paid for it a radical and unnecessary idea. They can get quite insulted. You can't force someone to be paid for their work."

"Let me introduce you," Albus cut across their whispered conversation. "Grace, Jeremy, this is Kreacher. He used to belong to Dad's godfather before he died. Now he works for Hogwarts." The use of the word '_belong_' was very telling.

"Nice to meet you," Grace said.

"Um." Jeremy swallowed. "Hi."

"A friend of the Potters is a friend of mine," Kreacher said, bowing low. "But I must get back to work now. It will be lunch soon. Please excuse me."

"Oh, of course. Sorry for troubling you," Albus apologised and Kreacher turned and left them for the bustle on the other side of the room. "Well, we've got what we came for," Albus said. He stood up and looked at James and Alex. "Good luck with the try outs. I'm sure you'll do well. You can tell us about it later."

"Oh." James looked disappointed. "Fine. I suppose we need to get going anyway." He stood up as well and all five of them tramped towards the exit, Albus carrying the cake. "See ya kids," James said as he and Alex parted from them on the second floor stairway. Alex waved airily.

"Bye," Albus and Jeremy chorused.

"Good luck," Grace called very quietly. James grinned at her and elbowed Alex in the ribs.

"It's as if she likes us," he exclaimed mockingly. Grace flushed. She hadn't been that horrid to Alex when they were younger. Nowhere near as horrid as he was to her now. Well, usually. Not in this particular instance, perhaps.

"Oh, go fall off your brooms," she muttered and walked down the stairs after Albus and Jeremy.

"You hear that?" James' voice floated after her gleefully. "_That_ is kindness." Grace's blush worsened. Honestly, how was one ever meant to win against them?

* * *

Two weeks passed by very quickly. Professor Viridian had them duelling with sparks, awarding points for good timing rather than accuracy. Professor Flitwick had taught them the mending charm, _reparo_, which Grace could see the use in, but Professor Longbottom was trying to interest them in devil's snare, a horrible plant that tried to throttle you unless you warded it off with fire. Rose and Albus had been giggling about it, but Grace couldn't understand why anyone would want to know how to look after that kind of plant.

"In case you need to _guard_ something," Albus had tried to explain, but Grace was sure there must be better ways to guard your property than by planting great clumps of Devil's Snare everywhere. Meanwhile, Professor Saxelby had finally let them attempt to change their matches into needles, but she'd slowed the process down far too much by trying to get them to change one property at a time, which was much harder than transfiguring the object as a whole.

Potions was rapidly becoming Grace's favourite subject. Professor Moors had been teaching them to brew an Antidote to Common Poisons. Unlike Professor Viridian, who scared Grace, Professor Moors threw them into the deep end without the added pressure of expecting them to perform brilliantly straight off the bat. She carefully pointed out what good potioneers would do at each stage of the procedure, offering helpful tips to try to get them to succeed with minimal interference.

Time flew by and soon it was 25th September. Grace sat in the Owlery that afternoon writing a letter to her dad to commemorate the fateful day four years ago when her mum had passed away. Not that she didn't have a lot of other things to update him on. She'd deliberately sent her last letter home halfway through last week so as to have lots of news for him.

_Dear Dad,_

_I've spent all morning covered in snot. Maybe you'll think I'm joking, or that I have a cold. No. Today in Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Viridian decided we'd be learning the Curse of the Bogies. Yes, it's exactly as awful as it sounds. And I'm rapidly becoming his worst Slytherin student, except for maybe Sebastian and Marlowe, but they get into stupid competitions with one another so I feel like they have an excuse. I'm simply terrible at casting the spell. On the whole Professor Viridian doesn't mark you on your casting ability. He marks you on common sense, and I think I'm great at timing my attacks. Or I'm very good at dodging. Against Scorpius, you have to be. But you can't dodge forever, and when I do try and attack, I either miss or the spell doesn't seem very effective… I'm afraid I ended up disgustingly sticky. Celia reckons that for our end of year exam he's going to dump us all in an arena and make us fight it out. I'd laugh, but she's probably not far off. Viridian's far from conventional._

_Anyway, everything is well here. Even Alex hasn't been too much of a pain recently. I'm sure I told you that he and James Potter made the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They don't half brag about it. Which is stupid because I'm sure Alex doesn't actually like being a keeper. I bet there are a lot of other students who want to play that position more than him, but Albus said Alex had to be a remarkable player to make the team and that even if it isn't his favourite position Alex's probably happy to be taking part. But that's Albus for you. He's so reasonable. The Quidditch season starts in just over a month. Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Of course, I only really know one member of our Quidditch Team – Erazimus Zabini (that's Celia's older brother) – but I still hope we win! I promise I'm not just saying that to spite Alex. It's house pride and all that. _

_Actually I'm looking forward to it all the more because as I mentioned in my last letter we had our first flying lesson on Thursday! The Gryffindors in our year are an odd bunch, Dad. Coraline Moon and Marinette Corner are part of James Potter's fan club. Goodness knows why. But they're unsettling Albus. Every time they see him they go all giggly. I don't understand it. I mean sure there's a family resemblance but they're very different people. I wonder if they're ever going to stop doing that and just say hello or strike up a normal conversation with him? As for Claire Meadows… she's awful. She's the bossiest, most snide person I've ever met, and that includes Rose Weasley. At least Rose is vaguely apologetic when she goes too far. Claire is simply rude. If it weren't for Linn Ackerly being so sweet she'd probably be left without a partner all the time. I have to admit I was rather satisfied that she completely failed to get her broomstick to obey her in the slightest. She was the only one in the class to completely fail. I know that's mean of me. I didn't say anything, but I did silently agree with Celia when she said the broomstick could sense how horrible she was. What broomstick would want to fly a witch like her? Sorry, Dad. You probably don't want to know this. Especially because you and I both know broomsticks can only sense whether you want to fly or not. Personality has nothing to do with it. It's just she's been awful to Ola – that's Oliver Wood's daughter. Even Maxwell, who most of the time appears to be bored beyond belief, had a lot to say to her on the subject. I haven't really talked to any of the Gryffindor boys. Todd Turpin and Phillip Thomas spent the lesson zooming in figures of eights – no one was surprised when Todd ended up in the Hospital Wing. That boy has the worst luck of anyone I've ever met. Roger Stoke, that's the Welsh boy, is completely lovely. He helped Harriet, Linn and Jeremy while Professor Knocks tried to get Claire's broom to cooperate. I must admit the rest of us more experienced fliers dashed off to have races and acrobatic fun. But that was nice of Roger considering that Gryffindor and Slytherin don't usually get along. People like Francis Boot make it difficult. They take house pride too far. Celia and Wedby seem to be scheming something to get back at him for it, even though Scorpius and I told them it would only make things worse. I wondered if James might be persuaded to get involved, since he's actually quite good at sorting out house issues (when Albus isn't concerned). Say, Dad, did Mum like flying? I can't remember. What were her favourite subjects when she was at school? She was a Hufflepuff too, right?_

_I haven't seen much of Timothy lately. It's not his fault though. If our Prefects are anything to go by, he's probably kept pretty busy patrolling the corridors in the evenings. I think I just expected to see him today. You know, because he's written me letters the last three years just to check up on me… I'm sorry I couldn't go with you today. I hope Mum's grave is looking nice. Did you manage to find any Orchids in the end? What else did you do today? Are you going to the Carlsdale's later?_

_I love you lots and lots. Stay safe,_

_Love Grace xoxox_

She hesitated, then sealed the letter and let Errata jump onto her arm.

"You're to take this to my dad, okay?" Errata nipped at her fingers affectionately, and let Grace attach the letter with fumbling fingers. Errata flew off into the distance, and Grace stood there wondering what to do. She felt listless. She didn't want to do anything, she couldn't concentrate on anything, but at the same time, she wanted to do _something_. She sighed and left the Owlery. The grounds seemed bigger than ever in the afternoon. The short winter days made the shadows stretch impossibly over the ground. She sat down halfway down the Owlery steps, unable to find the energy to walk any further. A Ravenclaw second year raised an eyebrow as she marched smartly past. The girl's superior attitude annoyed Grace momentarily, but she made a point of not moving. She would hate for the girl to think she'd gotten to her. Grace wondered if that was petty of her. Why should she put herself in competition with strangers? But that obstinate part of her personality was hard to ignore. It was precisely what was responsible for all her arguments with Alex and James. Alex more so than James, because James was unflappable. She wondered if she'd ever win an argument against him.

"Are you alright?"

Grace started and looked up at the Ravenclaw, her lips parting with surprise. The second year looked down at her with an air of disinterest, but Grace thought that made no sense. If she were really disinterested, why would she have bothered to speak to her? Was it some school duty that drove the girl forward? Was this a prefect in the making?

"Yes, thanks," she said, smiling slightly. "I'm not lost if that's what you're worried about."

"What are you doing?" the girl asked imperiously, descending the steps so that she was standing directly over Grace with her arms crossed. She had a pale, freckly face. Her shoulder-length, ash blonde hair fell limply about her head in curtains. Her nose was perfectly straight and angular. Grace noticed because the girl had a particular way of holding her head up high so that she appeared to be looking down her nose at whoever she was talking to at the time. Probably it had been perfected as some overcompensation for the fact that she wasn't that tall. Grace was sure she might be the taller of the two if she bothered to stand up.

"Sitting," she replied, shortly, rather delighting in not answering the question to her questioner's satisfaction.

"Evidently," the girl snapped. "But why?" Grace shrugged. She wasn't too sure herself. Maybe it was simply that she expected a reply today and wondered how long it would take for her father to get back to her. Thinking about it, that was a silly reason. Errata wasn't exactly the fastest flier. Mostly it was just that she'd felt like it.

"I'm waiting for something to happen," she decided. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Fine, be that way." She started to descend the stairs in a huff. It was as if Grace had personally offended her. She reached the bottom of the staircase and paused. It was as if there was something she couldn't let go. "What are you waiting for, exactly?" she asked, turning to Grace again. Even though she was definitely below Grace now because of the geography of the ground, she still seemed to be looking down on her. "I mean, you can't be waiting for post, that's far too tragic. Even for a first year, and it's the last thing I'd expect of a Slytherin, so what are you up to?"

"Why do I have to be up to something?" Grace asked, beginning to feel quite amused. The Ravenclaw raised a hand to her mouth and bit into the first knuckle of her left hand. Grace blinked at her. It was by far the weirdest mannerism she'd ever come across. "Are you trying to become a cannibal?" The Ravenclaw blushed angrily.

"Of course not," she sneered. "I'm just irritated."

"But I'm just sitting here," Grace protested, openly laughing now.

"_That's_ what's so irritating! Don't you have anything better to do with your time?" Grace thought about it.

"No," she concluded. "Not today. I'm Grace by the way."

"I _know_ who you are," the girl snapped before Grace could ask for her name in return. Grace's mouth parted in surprise. How on earth did this random Ravenclaw know her? "You're one of Albus' friends. Of course I know. James won't stop going on about the lot of you. You in particular because his idiot of a best friend seems to have a monumental crush on you and you were completely oblivious of it until I told you just now, so at least I've fixed one thing that's been bugging me."

Grace burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. How could she not laugh on being told Alex Carlsdale _liked_ her in any way, shape or form? It was a bad move on her part, however, because it enraged the incensed Ravenclaw even more. She stamped her foot, and her furious blush became such a vibrant red that stood out prominently on her face, quite obscuring the freckles.

"Don't you believe me?" she snarled. "Why would I possibly lie about something so tedious? I obviously know what I'm talking about. James would have no reason to witter on to me about the burden that is his best friend's inability to express himself as part of some elaborate joke. I haven't got a funny bone in my body. I abhor their foolishness. _Why_ are you still _laughing_?!"

"I-I'm sorry," Grace spluttered through her amusement. She was beginning to feel light headed. "It's not that… I mean, of course I don't believe you. But you're very funny to be so wound up over this. Why do you care? Who _are_ you?"

"I'm a Weasley," the Weasley girl snapped, which would have been the worst self-introduction (including Harriet's '_I like rabbits_' speech) Grace had ever heard were it not for the fact that at that moment she realised precisely who the Weasley girl was. Lucy. It had to be Molly's younger sister. The one who hated everyone and everything if Roxanne was to believed. "And I don't _care_. It's just that James _insists_ on rambling on and on about his life whenever he sees me as an extra torture. If you and that idiot would kiss and make up it would be so soppy and pathetic it might just shut James up for a minute. Besides, I guess it's infuriating to me when a person fails to see the obvious. You're ruining the Slytherin name."

"So, to conclude," Grace summarised, still laughing to herself. "Aside from your family issues, which really aren't my problem, your main issue is that I'm ruining the name of a house you don't even belong to?" The other girl noticeably ground her teeth. "Lucy, you're amazing!" Grace laughed so gaily she had to wipe tears from her eyes. She couldn't remember ever enjoying herself so much on this day since her mum passed away. "I mean you're not normal!"

"Excuse me?" Lucy snarled. Honestly the girl was all prickles and spikes. She'd have made a fantastic hedgehog.

"I mean," Grace said, calming down enough to realise her compliments had been taken the wrong way. "You're one of a kind. I really admire your way of thinking." Instead of the hostile response she was expecting from Lucy, the Ravenclaw put her head to the side and frowned. "You really don't make friends easily, huh?" Grace inquired, studying the older girl.

"Why would I want to be friends with you?" Lucy asked darkly. Grace wondered at that.

"Does it have to be logical?" she asked. "Don't you find yourself talking to people on a whim? If you get on, in fact, even if you don't get on, it's the talking that counts. Isn't it?" Lucy stared at Grace.

"You're an idiot," she said straight-forwardly. Grace grinned. If someone else had said that to her she'd have been offended, but she had the feeling Lucy said that to everyone she met.

"Okay, if you like. Do you mind if I walk with you back to the castle?" Lucy took a step backwards.

"I thought you were doing something," she said, looking decidedly annoyed.

"I never said that," Grace replied good naturedly, getting to her feet. "To be honest, I was trying to be gloomy and self-indulgent." It was the truth she'd been avoiding. On this day she had the bad habit of making herself melancholy just for the sake of having a good cry about missing her mum. There was nothing wrong with missing her. But deliberately working herself up into that state was irrational and self-pitying. "But it's as I thought. It's hard to be miserable when you're not on your own." That was why she'd come to the Owlery alone, even though Albus, Scorpius and Celia had all offered to accompany her.

"And you had the nerve to call me weird," Lucy muttered loud enough for Grace to hear. It had been deliberately so. Lucy started walking away and Grace hurried to catch her up. "Are you serious?" Lucy spat, spinning on her heel to confront Grace. "No! You can't follow me back to the castle like a lost sheep! Find someone else to bother." Grace's face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. Lucy was an impossible person, and for some reason that made Grace feel fantastically tickled about the situation.

"If I can't follow you I'll have to walk beside you instead." Lucy glowered.

"Follow me then. I have no desire to spend time with you."

"But, Lucy," Grace whined, traipsing along behind her. She was being deliberately annoying, and she felt giddy about it. "You're the one who decided to talk to me, not the other way around."

"It is an act which I thoroughly regret," Lucy snapped, speeding up her steps in an effort to leave Grace behind but Grace skipped along after her.

"So, why am I putting Slytherin to shame?" Grace asked, her eyes flashing in amusement. Lucy didn't reply. Grace wondered if she was trying to give her the silent treatment. Well, she knew what to do to combat that. Goodness knows Alex had used it on her enough times when they were growing up. "Did you want to be a Slytherin? If so why did you pick Ravenclaw? I doubt any of your millions of friends and relations would have minded. They've all been quite relaxed about Albus. Well, apart from James and his day of spite, but that was just James being an idiot." She paused for Lucy to have an input into the conversation but there was no response. "You know I'm surprised Alex wasn't nastier to me about it. I would have thought Slytherin-bashing was right up his street. But he hasn't been nearly as horrible to me since the train incident." She paused again. Still no response. "Why on earth do you think he likes me? You do realise he spends all his time glaring at me."

"Merlin," Lucy whispered very quietly and stopped so suddenly Grace ran into the back of her. She looked so furious when she turned around that Grace was momentarily concerned the Ravenclaw was about to hex her into oblivion. "What will it take to shut you up?" Lucy asked. "Let me be very clear. I don't like you. We're not friends. I want you to leave me alone and not talk to me ever again. What do you need in order for this to happen?" Grace smiled at her.

"Did that ever work on James?" she wondered, already sure that he'd laughed it off and annoyed Lucy like never before. "I could never keep the silent treatment going on Alex. He used to talk incessantly until I snapped. It's very tiring isn't it? Being annoyed all the time. I was just wondering if you were ok. I'm sorry for laughing at you earlier. I'll try to consider what you said… but honestly, you've never seen how Alex acts around me. I'm positive it's driven by childish jealousy, rather than any affection on his part. Otherwise that's… Merlin, that's really awful and I have no idea what to think about that."

"So you're pestering me because… you were wondering if I was ok?" Lucy asked, her right eye beginning to twitch.

"No." Grace sighed. "Well, yes. Are you alright? Why are you so _angry_?"

"And this is the part where I spill my guts about how I'm so lonely I could die? How I detest my year and have to rely on my most pathetic cousin's friend to rescue me?"

"Of course not." Grace rolled her eyes. There was no need to be spiteful. "Not really. I was just interested in what you had to say. You probably have a unique point of view." She'd never met someone so jaded. "And I guess I wanted to return the favour somewhat. If you hadn't come along I'd be wallowing in self-pity. I'll leave you alone now, I just wanted to say if for some reason you ever do want to talk about anything, no matter how serious or trivial, I promise to listen to you. I'll be a friend to you, even if you don't want me to." Lucy glowered.

"Horray," she said sarcastically and waited patiently for Grace to leave.

"Okay, I lied" Grace confessed. "I'm still going to walk back to the castle with you."

"Why? Are you afraid of the dark?" Lucy taunted her nastily. Grace smiled. When you'd spent most of your days arguing with Alex insults were rather easy to ignore.

"Terrified," she lied. "You'll have to escort me."

"Tch." Lucy started walking again and Grace happily bounced along beside her until they got closer to the entrance hall again. "Are you always this cheery?" Lucy asked, acidly. She didn't seem to be able to maintain a silence.

"No, usually I'm very dull," Grace lied again. Lucy looked at her sharply, and seemed to realise that Grace was using a normal tone of voice for her sarcastic comments.

"You're not afraid of the dark at all!" she shouted in outrage. Grace giggled.

"Oh, don't ruin what was almost a beautiful moment," she teased. Lucy stamped her foot again, and stormed into the Entrance Hall. Grace heard her shriek, and hurried through the doors after Lucy. The Ravenclaw was brandishing a fist at Alex Carlsdale. James was laughing hysterically where he stood beside the pair of them and Lucy glowered at him as she got to her feet. Alex picked himself off the floor, noticed Grace and quickly shoved a piece of parchment into his back pocket.

"Watch where you're going, idiot!" Lucy was bellowing. She turned her head and spotted Grace. "As for you. Stop following me!" Lucy Weasley stormed up the stairs, her face on fire.

"What did you do to her?" James asked, grinning. "I've never seen her so apoplectic." Grace smiled. Her good humour still hadn't worn off yet. She was aware she wasn't really acting like herself, but for the moment she didn't really care.

"Nothing, really. I was just worried she might be lonely." James considered her for a long second.

"You too, huh? Well, that's Lucy for you. She hates everyone. Even herself."

"Roxanne said as much the other day," Grace said. James frowned. "Of course, that was the day you decided Albus didn't exist all morning, so I can't blame you for the repetition." James blanched and then looked resentful for the reproach. He turned to Alex.

"Are you sure you got the date right?" he quipped. "She looks fine to me." Grace stared at Alex just as he blushed. For a crazy moment, Grace recalled Lucy's wild accusations. They couldn't possibly be true. Surely?

"Were you worried?" she asked, curiously. She had to step quickly to the side as the door to the Entrance Hall opened again and nearly hit her. The pair of Slytherin sixth years strolled on by when they realised she hadn't been hit.

"No," Alex retorted immediately. "Who'd worry about you?"

"Riiiiight," Grace drawled, looking at James who was shaking his head at Alex in despair. Grace realised that regardless of the truth James really believed that Alex felt that way. She stared at Alex, who became more and more indignant by the second. What was it that made him so defensive? She'd really believed Lucy had the wrong end of the stick, but maybe she was wrong. Maybe Lucy was right. Maybe Alex liked her. In which case his attitude still made no sense to her. Why would you pick a fight with someone you liked? He should at the very least be nice to her from time to time. Yet again she tried to work out what on earth those two had been trying to do on the train.

"What?" Alex asked, becoming unsettled because of the intent look on her face. "Why are you staring at me?" Grace frowned. She really couldn't work him out.

"It's nothing. You have something on your face," she joked. He blushed and self-consciously wiped a hand over his cheek. Merlin, what if he did like her? It was an awful thought! She sighed. Honestly, what had James been hoping would happen were she ever to work it out? It wasn't as if she had a reason to be nice to him all of a sudden. The knowledge that he might like her just made her even more confused about his behaviour. Was this what boys usually did when they liked someone? If so she hoped no boy ever liked her. She could do without the fuss.

"Is it gone?" he asked. Grace blinked.

"Yeah. You're good to go," she muttered. "Were you two looking for me? Or was the date irrelevant?"

"Yes," James said very firmly just as Alex tried to protest otherwise. "Is there anything you want to do? Anything you need? Today's the anniversary, right? We wanted to check you were feeling okay and cheer you up if necessary." Grace was oddly touched. She would usually be suspicious, but even Alex wouldn't do anything to her today. They had a pact. She looked at James curiously.

"How good are you at Defence?"

* * *

"Wingaurdium Leviosa," Marlowe Bucket said, floating his feather an inch in the air and proceeding to direct it towards Sebastian's undefended neck. Celia, who had partnered up with Marlowe for this Charms lesson, had to stifle her giggles by putting a hand over her mouth. Grace looked up from the feather that sat unresponsively between her and Belinda.

"Oh," Belinda murmured. "Not Jeremy?" In this particular case Grace guessed Jeremy's longer hair was an advantage.

"I have to admit," Scorpius muttered leaning over his desk to talk to them just as the feather paused a centimetre from Sebastian's skin. "His sense of timing is masterly." The Slytherins waited with baited breath for Sebastian to attempt his own cast of the spell.

"Wing-aaaaargh!" Sebastian yelped and shifted on his seat, trying to swat at the back of his neck with his wand hand. Grace's lips became a perfect circle as the wand tip made contact with his short brown hair and promptly set it alight. Adrenaline shot through her, and as she heard Harriet start to scream, her panic had already caused her hand to seize her wand and the only spell she'd ever perfected before Hogwarts burst from her lips.

"Aguamenti!" she yelled. The jet of water that shot from the tip of her wand hit Sebastian's hair (effectively putting the flames out in the process) so hard that his head smacked forward onto the desk in front of him.

"Owch!" he screamed, more from shock than pain and then he swore as his forehead bruised considerably and relayed the pain to his brain. Belinda stared at her open mouthed.

"Grace, I had no idea you were good at spells." Grace flushed. What had been a moment of victory had been abruptly ruined.

"Ah, no… I mean, I'm getting better, but that spell is a one off." Her father had taught it to her. She'd even used his wand.

"Miss Hart!" Proffessor Flitwick squeaked as he rushed over. "Fantastic work, truly fantastic. I don't teach Aguamenti until sixth year! Fifty points to Slytherin." Grace's lips parted. She'd had no idea the spell was considered so advanced! She couldn't remember any other first year being given so many points in one go before. Celia cheered. "But," and here Flitwick turned his attention to Marlowe, "Although I am impressed at your wand work, Mr Bucket, I'm afraid you have clearly demonstrated how the misuse of magic can have dangerous consequences. It is therefore with considerable regret that although I award you five points for correctly performing the spell, I must take fifteen."

"Y-yeah," Marlowe stuttered, "Sorry Professor." For once his good humour seemed to have evaporated. As soon as Flitwick had turned away he grabbed Sebastian's arm. "Are you okay? I didn't think you'd set your hair on fire!"

"No worries, I barely felt it," Sebastian said and looked at Grace. "Uh, thanks."

"Yeah," Marlowe agreed. "Nice work." Grace didn't know what to say. If it had been any other spell that was necessary there was no way she could have reacted so fast. She was still generally average when it came to spellwork. About the only spell she had made any progress on was the curse of the bogies, and that was only because she was able to use Alex's head for target practice. Following that rather strange incident last month, James and Alex had taken it in turns to help her practice Defence Against the Dark Arts on Monday evenings. More often than not James would come up with some lame excuse that forced Grace to be with Alex instead, but she almost preferred that. James spent the whole practice time making jokes, whereas Alex took it far too seriously, probably because he still hadn't worked out how to act like a normal human being around her. He was still defensive and moody most of the time. He barely smiled around her. But on the other hand, Grace had realised that if she stopped overreacting to his stupid remarks they could almost get on from time to time and that was an improvement. She still wasn't convinced that he actually liked her, and she knew she didn't like him. But it was a nice change not to be constantly fighting. Even Timothy had remarked upon it.

"I hope this has taught you two that you're both idiots," Jeremy said, rocking back in his seat.

"Jeremy," Marlowe said very seriously. "The only thing I learnt was that you make a better target." Jeremy scowled.

"Happy Halloween," he muttered darkly.

"Halloween's always happy," Scorpius said, smiling evilly.

"You're biased," Celia interrupted.

"How's he biased?" Harriet wondered, turning to face them.

"Can't you tell from the evil expression?" Celia asked. "It's his birthday."

"We really need to make a calendar for these things," Wedby muttered dryly.

* * *

Author Notes:

The sheer amount of silliness in the chapter amuses me greatly. I may have had too much fun with Lucy. I meant to have some great event planned for Halloween, but I'm going to save it for Second year or their first year will be waaaay too eventful in the beginning. Next chapter will definitely have the Gryffindor Slytherin match. And we might get to Christmas and Albus' birthday. As I said, I'm going to slightly rush these first few years, but in my defence these are quite long chapters, so I don't think you're being short changed. Please review and let me know what you think :) Particularly with reference to the Alex Grace thing. I'm trying not to give it too much coverage. That isn't the point of this story. I simply wanted to make a point that love/hate relationships are very unrealistic. Also... I debated for a long time about this last scene with Grace doing Aguamenti. In my mind I thought this was a second year spell, but in doing my fact checking realised it was actually one Harry gets taught in the sixth year. I feel that it's too advanced for her to know, but please put this in context. Her mother died in a fire (and yes, at some point I will actually put that in vivid detail into the story - I've written it already). The first thing I would have done if I were her dad was teach Grace how to put out fires. If only because she's terrified of them. For good reason. Again, just wait till I paste the backstory in one day. Grace is not good at spell casting. She likes potions. It's like cooking. Easy. Everyone can cook.

Luv Ya

XxMookinexX

©2013 XxMookinexX. All rights reserved. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of XxMookinexX.


	4. The Dreaming of Things

_**Seven Years in Slytherin  
**_XxMookinexX

Based on the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.

* * *

**First Year, Part Four**_  
_The Dreaming of Things

"Rosie lived by a set of rules she'd drawn up when she was still too young to understand the world."  
On Rose Weasley, Inheritance

The Saturday morning of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match was toe-numbingly cold. The Slytherin first years huddled together like penguins for warmth as they made their way down to the stands.

"Who're you cheering for, Albus?" Scorpius asked derisively. His competitive streak had brought out the worst in him.

"Slytherin, of course," Albus said, brushing off Scorpius' concerns.

"Really?" Wedby asked dubiously, eyeing up the supporters decked out in red around them. "It looks like your whole family's on the other team."

"His whole family wouldn't fit," Celia pointed out with a degree of scorn. Albus frowned.

"What did I just say?" he asked Grace, looking for support. "Because I meant to say Slytherin. Did I say something else?"

"Don't worry so much, Albus," Harriet said, bouncing along happily beside them. She was hopping in her excitement.

"Would you keep still?" Wedby asked. "It's making me seasick the way you keep bopping up and down like that."

"Sorry! I'm so excited I can't help it. I've never seen a real match before."

"Neither have I," Jeremy pointed out. "You don't see me jumping up and down."

"The day we see you jumping up and down it will no doubt be because Marlowe put itching powder in your underwear," Scorpius muttered.

"Please, don't give him ideas," Jeremy groaned and failed to suppress a shudder.

"I heard my name," Marlowe called, turning and giving them a Cheshire cat grin. "What am I being blamed for now?"

"And _why_ wasn't my name mentioned?" Sebastian demanded. "Honestly, it's like you all think he's the brains of the outfit."

"Well, isn't he?" Celia checked. "Face it Sebastian, without Marlowe to encourage you, you're as tame as a housefly."

"With the same tendency to fly into window panes," Jeremy said, causing Harriet to giggle.

"Are you really okay not cheering for James?" Grace asked Albus quietly. He shrugged.

"I have no doubt James will do well regardless of whether I cheer for him or not. What about you? Not cheering for Alex?" Grace pulled a face.

"We may be getting along better, but I haven't completely taken leave of my senses," she muttered.

"If you say so," he agreed. She walked up beside him and slowly pushed her weight against his shoulder until she'd got him walking on a collision course with the base of the stands. He laughed. "You really want to play this game? I warn you, I've had pleanty of practice from James."

"And I haven't from Alex?" she checked. "You don't really think you're stronger than me?" Albus was such a skinny kid she found the idea that he could force her to collide instead completely farfetched.

"Maybe, maybe not, but what does strength have to do with it?" he asked, and suddenly spun back and away from her so that she tripped and would have gone flat on her face if he hadn't caught her wrist. "Woah, careful! I thought you were expecting that." Grace tried to catch her breath. That was something that had never happened with Alex. They were both so stubborn that they kept going until one or other of them ended up colliding with the post.

"You were faster than I expected," she lied, but it was flattery so she doubted Albus minded.

"What _are _you two doing?" Celia asked, hand on hip. Her expression told them she thought it was the height of foolishness.

"Sorry, Celia," Grace said and skipped up to her best friend, clasping her hand. Celia Zabini raised an eyebrow at her excited state.

"I didn't realise you were going to be one of the Quidditch mad crowd," she grumbled. "Isn't there one sane person left?"

"Well, I'm only moderately excited," Belinda said, but when Celia and Grace looked at her they were once again struck by how very… green she'd become. There were even threads of green and silver in her hair.

"Yes," Ceila said carefully. "I'd hate to see you over-excited."

"I'm surprised you're not more excited," Scorpius said. "Raz is flying Chaser after all."

"Yes. Well, of course I want _him_ to do well," Celia said, sniffing.

"But not the rest of the team?" Grace asked, curiously.

"It's not that I don't want the others to win," Celia grumbled, her voice becoming more and more muffled as she retreated further into her scarf in a turtle-like fashion. "But it's too cold to be standing outside like this!"

"Oh, is that all that's troubling you?" The Slytherins turned and saw Rose Weasley grinning at them. Her two Ravenclaw friends from the train were with her. Grace couldn't remember their names, even though they had Herbology classes together. The Ravenclaws simply didn't leave an impression like the Gryffindors did. Or maybe that was all in Grace's head? She wasn't sure.

"Hey, Rose," Albus greeted, smiling. "Zara and Connie, do you know Grace, Celia, Jeremy, Wedby, Harriet, Sebastian and Marlowe?" If they didn't, he'd said all their names far too fast to be useful. It took Grace a moment to remember that of course they'd gone to Hagrid's with Scorpius and Belinda. A privilege Grace still had yet to take Albus up on.

"What do you mean _'is that all_'?" Celia demanded imperiously.

"Well, you see, I have this!" Rose said, holding out a small blue flame on the palm on her head.

"Aaagh!" Marlowe screamed in mock terror, pretending to shield Sebastian. "Quick, Grace! Put it out!" Celia shot him an unimpressed look, but Harriet, Jeremy and Wedby tittered at the stupid re-enactment of that disastrous Charms class on Halloween last Tuesday.

"If it was dangerous she wouldn't be holding it," Belinda pointed out reasonably. Marlowe pouted. His genius was lost on them.

"Is that what I think it is?" Celia asked, eying the flickering flames enviously.

"Yes, blue fire! It doesn't burn you but it's great at keeping you warm, especially during matches like this. If you like we can all sit together and share it."

"That depends," Scorpius said, eying her suspiciously. "Who are you Ravenclaws supporting?"

"W-well," Rose stuttered. "I don't know. Maybe Slytherin," she suggested, and deliberately looked at Albus as if she were doing it for his sake. Albus was surprised.

"Really, Rosie?" he asked.

"Now, _why_ would you suddenly do something like that?" Celia asked snidely. "I wonder _what_ brought on _this_ change of heart." Rose flushed.

"Do you want to share the fire or not?" she snapped. "I can just as easily go sit elsewhere if you'd prefer Zabini." Celia scowled, but swallowed down her pride.

"No. Don't do that," she grumbled. "We'd love to sit with you."

"Great!" Rose beamed and hurried to Scorpius' side. "You don't have a problem with it, do you Scorpius?" she asked innocently. He frowned slightly but shrugged in the face of the pressure from all the freezing cold Slytherins who were depending on him to put up with her.

"Hey," Zara MacDougal said. "I'm still supporting Griffindor."

"W-well," Connie Colbert stuttered. "At least… we're supporting James P-P-P-Potter." Scorpius sighed.

"Fine, but don't cheer too loudly," he grumbled.

"More importantly, don't shriek in my ear," Jeremy muttered, causing Wedby to snigger unkindly. The Ravenclaw girls stayed very closely packed together by Scorpius and Albus after that.

"So… who exactly is on our team apart from Raz?" Grace asked Wedby, expecting the Quidditch fanatic to have all the answers.

"Don't you even know _that much?_" Wedby asked, horrified.

"Amateurs," Marlowe commented. Sebastian snickered.

"Okay." Wedby took a deep breath. "Our beaters are Alden Green and Ian Klein. Klein's a sixth year and he's got a really strong arm, but Green's just a third year and lacks some experience."

"Some would say he was still green," Sebastian commented, stroking an imaginary beard. Wedby stared at him until he stopped.

"No. No they wouldn't. That's a ridiculous saying when you belong to Slytherin house," she told him off. "Or are you trying to say we suck?"

"What?" Sebastian looked appalled. "No! Of course not!"

"Maybe you should leave the jokes up to Marlowe, Seb," Harriet suggested not unkindly, but Sebastian looked crestfallen.

"Our chasers are seventh year Patricia Hughett, who's generally seen as the play maker of the chasers. She sets the pace. The other two are Erazimas Zabini, who you know, and Moira McMillan. They're both fourth years. Nathaniel Flint, a fifth year, is our keeper. He's average in goal, but he's usually got a pretty good eye on the rest of the pitch, so the team listens to him when he thinks the other team is up to something. My bet's on him to take over from Lars as Quidditch Captain next year. Which just leaves our illustrious captain. Surgen Lars is a seventh year, and he plays seeker, which is why he sometimes has to leave strategy decisions up to Flint because it's hard to captain the team when you have to keep an eye out for the snitch at all times. He was captain last year too. On the whole we're in better shape than the Gryffindor team. There's really no way we should lose this apart from an unfortunate loss of the snitch."

"I see, and that's because Alex, James and Roxanne are all new this year, right? Even though Roxanne's a third year?" Grace double-checked, determined to prove she knew something about the upcoming match.

"I find it deeply insulting that you know more about their team than ours," Wedby muttered. Grace was about to protest that this was unfair – she didn't ask for Monique to tell her about it in her verbal sparring match with Raz. "But yes, they're a strangely unbalanced team at the moment. Lots of first time fliers and seventh years mixed together. Eric Donny and Wilson Agrimony, the other two chasers are final year. Anne Finnegan, the other beater is a third year like Roxanne, but those two seem to have problems working together, which is all to our advantage. The one to watch out for is Dominique Wealey. She's the seeker, and a fifth year, as you know, but this is her first year as captain since Adam Jordan left last year and she's _hungry_ for the cup. She's been working them quite hard by all reports, but fortunately it's still early in the school year, so I doubt they'll have worked enough to show any results yet."

"I wouldn't hold my breath about that," Jeremy muttered, indicating Rose with a nod of his head. "I've noticed Weasleys can be pretty determined when they want something." Wedby pursed her lips and refrained from commenting.

"GOOD MORNING!" a voice bellowed from the teacher's box. A Ravenclaw fifth year was announcing over the loud-speaker. Fortunately they weren't sitting that far away, so Grace could identify her as a pretty Indian girl with thick black hair, imposing eyebrows and crazy amounts of eyeliner swirling around her eyes. "THIS IS PRIAH SANDOU, YOUR COMMENTATOR SPEAKING. WELCOME TO WHAT I'M SURE WILL PROVE TO BE ANOTHER EPIC BATTLE IN THE CONTINUING GRYFFINDOR SLYTHERIN VENDETTA." Professor Knocks was waiting for the two teams in the middle of the pitch, his broom in hand. The teams streaked out in two spirals of red and green to tumultuous applause, which Grace happily joined in. "AND HERE THEY COME. GRYFFINDOR: AGRIMONY, CARLSDALE, DONNY, FINNEGAN, POTTER, WEASLEY, AND WEASLEY. SLYTHERIN: FLINT, GREEN, HUGHETT, KLEIN, LARS, MCMILLAN, AND ZABINI. LARS AND WEASLEY ARE SHAKING HANDS. KNOCKS ASKS THEM TO MOUNT THEIR BROOMS… AND THEY'RE OFF!"

The players rose in perfect synch with Professor Knocks' whistle and the balls were released into the air.

"AND IT'S HUGHETT WITH THE QUAFFLE. SHE PASSES TO MCMILLAN. SHE PASSES TO ZABINI. ZABINI TO MCMILLAN. MCMILLAN BACK TO ZABINI. HE SHOOTS. SLYTHERIN SCORES!"

Celia screamed so loudly she almost deafened them.

"Merlin, she's worse than James Potter's fans put together," Jeremy muttered, digging a finger into his left ear to try and get it to work again.

"CARLSDALE THROWS IT TO POTTER, WHO NIMBLY DODGES KLEIN'S BLUDGER, HE PASSES TO DONNY, WHO PASSES TO AGRIMONY- NO! THAT WAS A FEINT. IT'S DONNY WITH THE QUAFFLE. DONNY SHOOTS. BUT FLINT BLOCKS THE SHOT. OH BUT THERE'S POTTER, HE HAS THE QUAFFLE. SURELY THERE'S NOTHING FLINT CAN DO FROM THAT DISTANCE – OH! BRILLIANT! GREEN SENDS A BLUDGER DIRECTLY INTO THE PATH OF POTTER'S SHOT. THE QUAFFLE GOES WIDE! AND AGRIMONY SCOOPS UP THE BALL. THE GRYFFINDOR CHASERS ARE REALLY FIGHTING FOR THIS ONE. THE SLYTHERIN BEATERS CAN'T KEEP IT UP FOREVER. ALTHOUGH MAYBE THEY CAN IF THE GRYFFINDOR BEATERS DON'T GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER. I THINK THOSE TWO ARE ARGUING UP THERE! NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR THAT! IT'S POTTER WITH THE BALL, LOOPING ROUND THE BACK OF THE POSTS, TRYING TO DRAW FLINT OUT, BUT FLINT'S WISE TO THAT TACTIC, HE'S STICKING TO THE GOAL POSTS. POTTER PASSES TO AGRIMONY WHO PASSES - FEINTS A PASS TO DONNY – SHOOTS! SCORES!"

The opposite side of the stadium went wild. Connie and Zara shrieked and clutched one another. Two supporters in a sea of green that turned as one to glare at them.

"GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN ARE TIED. BUT GRYFFINDOR REALLY HAD TO WORK FOR THAT ONE. MEANWHILE ZABINI HAS THE BALL, HE PASSES TO MCMILLAN, SHE PASSES UP TO HUGHETT WHO SHOOTS – SAVED BY CARLSDALE, WHO PASSES IT TO POTTER. POTTER'S FLYING WITH THE QUAFFLE, HE PASSES TO AGRIMONY, BUT ANOTHER BLUDGER FROM GREEN LOOKS TO IMPEED HER PROGRESS, NO, NICE BLOCK BY ROXANNE WEASLEY. GOOD TO SEE THE GRYFFINDOR BEATERS TAKING A SWING AT IT. DONNY HAS THE BALL, HE FEINTS A PASS AND SHOOTS, BUT FLINT CATCHES IT EASILY. YOU CAN ONLY TRY THE SAME TACTIC SO MANY TIMES. FLINT TOSSES IT UP THE PITCH TO HUGHETT, HUGHETT TO MCMILLAN, MCMILLAN TO ZABINI, ZABINI TO MCMILLAN, SHE PASSES BACK – NO! SHE'S FEINTED. MCMILLAN SCORES! SLYTHERIN LEADS ONCE AGAIN."

Grace cheered with the other Slytherins. The Ravenclaws looked a bit put out.

"NOTICE THE WAY THE GRYFFINDOR CHASERS RUSH BACK UP THE PITCH EACH TIME TO HELP DEFEND? THE SLYTHERIN CHASERS ARE CONSERVING THEIR ENERGY. BUT THEN THEY CAN AFFORD TO WITH THE RELIABLE DEFENCE OF THE KLEIN, GREEN AND FLINT COMBINATION. OH! FINNEGAN LAUNCHES A BLUDGER DIRECTLY AT GREEN, CAUSING HIM TO MISHIT THE BLUDGER HE WAS ALREADY SWINGING AT AS HE DODGES OUT OF THE WAY, LEAVING FLINT ALONE AGAINST THE GRYFFINDOR CHASERS. KLEIN BLOCKS AGRIMONY, BUT DONNY ALREADY HAS THE QUAFFLE, HE FEINTS TO POTTER, FOLLOWS THAT WITH A BRILLIANT PASS TO POTTER – HIS FEINT WAS THE FEINT ALL ALONG – POTTER SHOOTS, SCORES!"

The cheering for the Gryffindor team became a great deal shriller as the scores of James Potter fans clamoured to be heard.

"He's sooooo cool," Connie whispered. She and Zara held hands and looked admiringly up at him. Jeremy made retching noises as he pretended to throw up.

"ZABINI WITH THE BALL, PASSES TO HUGHETT, SHE PASSES BACK TO HIM, HE SHOOTS, CARLSDALE BLOCKS WITH THE BACK OF HIS BROOM, BUT MCMILLAN HAS THE REBOUND, SHE SHOOTS! SCORES! BRILLIANT PLAY BY THE SLYTHERIN CHASER THERE. AGRIMONY WITH THE BALL, WEASLEY BLASTS THE BLUDGER AT KLEIN, TRYING TO COPY FINNEGAN'S TACTIC MAYBE? BUT KLEIN REDIRECTS IT AT HER AND YES- SHE'S LOST HER BAT AND IS DIVING AFTER IT. FINNEGAN WILL HAVE TO HOLD THE FORT ON HER OWN FOR A MINUTE. GREEN'S SMACKED THE OTHER BLUDGER AT POTTER, BARELY MISSING HIS HEAD, BUT POTTER'S DROPPED THE BALL. MCMILLAN SCOOPS IT UP, PASSES TO HUGHETT, WHO PASSES TO ZABINI, MCMILLAN SHOOTS! NEAR MISS AS CARLSDALE JUST GETS HIS FINGERTIPS TO THE QUAFFLE AND KNOCKS IT OFF COURSE. BUT NO! ZABINI SCOOPS IT UP, PASSES TO HUGHETT AND YES, SHE SCORES!"

The crowd was mid-roar when both seekers suddenly went into nosedives. A glimmer of gold danced around the right-hand Gryffindor goal post.

"THE CAPTAINS ARE NECK-AND-NECK… NO, WEASLEY-I MEAN ROXANNE WEASLEY THE BEATER- HAS SENT A BLUDGER DIRECTLY AT LARS' HEAD! HE DODGES – CLEVER SPIN MANOUVER – ARE YOU SEEING THIS? HE'S UPSIDE-DOWN ON HIS BROOM, KEEPING PACE WITH MONIQUE WEASLEY ABOVE HIM, HE'S CLOSING THE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE- WHAT? WHY'RE WE STOPPING PLAY?"

Professor Knocks had blown his whistle sharply. The two Seekers broke apart from their neck and neck race and looked to the Professor for an explanation. It was only then that Grace realised Alex Carlsdale had been knocked from his broom by Roxanne's bludger and had only just avoided crashing to the ground by hanging onto one of the Goal posts for support. His left arm hung limply by his side.

"Is he okay?" Harriet squeaked and covered her face with her hands. "I can't watch!" Grace had a hand over her mouth.

"It's fine, I think," Jeremy said. "See, the Professor's got him." Monique floated to the Professor's side and they descended to the pitch together. James made to follow, but Monique held up a hand. Professor Longbottom, head of Gryffindor house, had already run down to the pitch and was helping Alex to his feet. Monique made a hand sign Grace didn't understand.

"LOOKS LIKE CARLSDALE'S BEEN INJURED AND CAN'T CONTINUE. GRYFFINDOR IS MAKING A SUBSTITUTION. THEIR RESERVE, FAYE JORDAN, IS ALREADY WARMING UP. OLDER STUDENTS WILL RECOGNISE HER AS LAST YEAR'S GRYFFINDOR CAPTAIN: ADAM JORDAN'S YOUNGER SISTER. WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM? ESPECIALLY NOW THAT THE SNITCH HAS DISAPPEARED FROM PLAY ONCE AGAIN."

Grace was in a state of shock. She barely heard Priah Sandou. She'd gone white. It would have been the same were any other friend of hers to get hit. Anyone would be like that. She imagined Cathy and Beth were already fighting their way out of the stadium, to say little of Timothy. Grace wanted to go as well. The only problem being that Alex, being his usual self, would probably send her away immediately. It would be a wasted effort, so she held herself back from rushing out of the stadium with the rest of them.

"POTTER HAS THE QUAFFLE. HE'S REALLY PELTING DOWN THE PITCH. HE DODGES A BLUDGER, SHOOTS WILDLY AT GOAL AND – I DON'T BELIEVE IT, HE SCORES! FLINT DIVES IN THE WRONG DIRECTION, EXPECTING A FEINT AND GRYFFINDOR ONCE AGAIN MANAGE TO EQUALISE THE MATCH. FLINT PASSES OUT TO ZABINI, WHO PASSES TO MCMILLAN, TWO BLUDGERS SPEED TOWARDS HER BUT SHE GETS THE PASS OFF TO HUGHETT. HUGHETT VERSUS JORDAN. JORDAN LOOKING UNSTEADY. SHE USUALLY PLAYS CHASER, NOT KEEPER. I'M NOT SURE HOW MUCH PRACTICE SHE HAS OF DEFENDING THE GOAL POSTS. WILL IT BE ENOUGH? HUGHETT MAKES A BEAUTIFUL SHOT THROUGH THE FAR RIGHT GOALPOST. EVEN AN EXPERIENCED KEEPER WOULD STRUGGLE WITH THAT! SLYTHERIN LEADS ONCE AGAIN."

"POTTER TAKES THE QUAFFLE, PASSES TO DONNY, DONNY TO AGRIMONY. POTTER IS HANGING BACK BY GOAL WITH JORDAN. IS HE TAKING A BREATHER? HE HAS BEEN FLYING ALL OVER THE PITCH AND AS THE YOUNGEST CHASER HE MAY LACK THE STAMINA OF HIS MORE EXPERIENCED TEAMMATES. OR IS THIS A DEFENSIVE MOVE ON THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM'S PART? ARE THEY DOUBLING THEIR DEFENSE AT THE COST OF THEIR ATTACK? IF SO IT'S A BOLD MOVE AGAINST THE WELL ESTABLISHED, FORMIDIBLE SLYTHERIN DEFENCE. AGRIMONY TAKES A NASTY BLUDGER TO THE CHEST. HE DOUBLES UP, IS HE WINDED? BUT HE'S WAVING AT WEASLEY NOT TO STOP PLAY. THE QUAFFLE IS BACK IN SLYTHERIN POSSESSION. IT'S HUGHETT WITH THE BALL. NOW MCMILLAN. SHE PASSES TO ZABINI. NICE TRICK PLAY THERE – ZABINI PRETENDS TO CATCH IT, BUT THE QUAFFLE ACTUALLY PASSES THROUGH HIS ARMS AND IT'S HUGHETT WITH THE QUAFFLE ONCE AGAIN. SHE'S PAST POTTER. JORDAN'S IN PRIME POSITION TO BLOCK IT. HUGHETT DROPS THE QUAFFLE DOWN TO ZABINI, WHO SOARS UP PAST THE GRYFFINDOR DEFENCES, HE SHOOTS - SCORES! SLYTHERIN ARE SLYTHERING FURTHER INTO THE LEAD."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Grace heard Celia demanding.

"Actually, I think Sandou's been rather fair," Belinda said mildly. "I never expected to enjoy the commentary so much."

"Why do people start referring to one another by the surnames when it comes to sport?" Harriet asked, suddenly. But no one answered, too entranced by the match. Slytherin were doing rather well. They certainly had the upper hand with Faye Jordan in goal and James Potter hanging back to support her. McMillan and Hughett both scored once more each thanks in a large part to some very precise shots from the Slytherin beaters. It was all Roxanne Weasley and Anne Finnegan could do to defend the Gryffindor players under the situation. Gryffindor scored once, but it was a losing battle on their part. Slytherin easily scored four more times in quick succession.

"At this rate it won't matter if Weasley does catch the snitch," Wedby commented, a tad pre-emptively.

"I don't know, we need to be at least fifteen goals ahead unless Lars does his job," Marlowe growled, gripping onto the edge of his seat as he craned his neck to find the glimmer of gold.

"I keep thinking it's been floating near Roxanne's left ear," Scorpius said. "But it's just that silly earring of hers." The first years all squinted up at Roxanne Weasley.

"Scorpius, you have fantastic eyesight," Rose complimented him. "I hadn't noticed." Celia, for once, looked like she wanted to say something nasty but couldn't think of the right thing to say. She hadn't spotted the trinket either.

"SNITCH!" Priah Sandou announced gleefully as the two Seekers dove for the golden blur halfway down the pitch, and a long way from where the Slytherins had been watching Roxanne. "AND IT LOOKS LIKE LARS AND WEASLEY ARE BATTLING IT OUT FOR THE LAST TIME! THEY'VE FACED EACH OTHER FOUR TIMES NOW. LARS HAS WON ON THREE OF THOSE OCCASIONS. CAN HE MAKE IT A FORTH FOR HIS FINAL YEAR? OR IS THE NEW GRYFFINDOR CAPTAIN GOING TO LIVE UP TO HER NEW TITLE?"

Celia shrieked happily.

"Raz just scored!" she yelled. She'd probably been the only one still watching the chasers as the seekers sped along neck and neck.

"IT'S LARS, HIS REACH IS LONGER THAN WEASLEY'S AS HE REACHES FOR THE SNITCH AND - OH, A BRILLIANT BLUDGER FROM FINNEGAN THERE, ONLY JUST BLOCKED BY KLEIN AND I'VE JUST BEEN TOLD SLYTHERIN SCORED WHEN I WASN'T LOOKING – ZABINI WAS IT? – WELL DONE SLYTHERIN, AND IT LOOKS LIKE YOU MIGHT NEED IT AS LARS FELL SLIGHTLY BEHIND DURING THAT BLUDGER INCIDENT, WEASLEY'S DRAWN SLIGHTLY AHEAD, SHE'S FLATTENED HERSELF TO HER BROOMSTICK, AND OF COURSE SHE'S THE LIGHTER FLIER, SHE HAS A SLIGHT EDGE IN SPEED – YES! SHE'S CAUGHT IT! GRYFFINDOR HAVE THE SNITCH! THEY WIN! 190-120. AND WHAT A FANTASTIC MATCH! A BRILLIANT START TO ANOTHER QUIDDITCH CUP WE'RE SURE TO REMEMBER FOR SOME TIME TO COME. THE TACTICS THIS GAME HAVE BEEN THRILLING TO WATCH UNFOLD, AND YOU HAVE TO APPLAUD THE ADAPTABILITY OF THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM AFTER CARLSDALE GOT SENT OFF, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SLYTHERIN CHASERS, TOO, STILL PERSUING THE QUAFFLE EVEN AMIDST THAT SEEKER RACE. TRULY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE BEEN SPOILT. PRIAH SANDOU SIGNING OFF!"

"Oh no!" Harriet moaned. "We were so close!"

"But what a _match_," Marlowe cried, turning to Wedby with his eyes aglow, "I mean, it sucks about Lars, but in essence we thrashed the Gryffindor team!"

"In every sense but the one that mattered," Jeremy muttered, but Wedby ignored him. She, too, had stars in her eyes.

"I have to hand it to Gryffindor," she said grudgingly. "They exceeded my expectations."

"Yes, well, they always do that when they're under pressure," a snotty voice said from behind them. Lucy Weasley was scowling up at the players.

"Lucy!" Rose cried. "When did you get here?" Lucy sent Rose a withering look.

"At the beginning of the match," she replied scathingly. "With everyone else." She looked back up at the players and made a noise of disgust. "The more they take a battering, the harder they try. They're so persistent!" She said it like an insult.

"Were you supporting Slytherin, then?" Albus asked tactfully, trying his best to ignore the fact that Lucy was insulting a large portion of their mutual family.

"Of course I was," Lucy snapped. "It is one of my greatest hopes that I will see your brother fail at something for once."

"I thought he played rather well," Scorpius said, trying to mediate the situation as Albus flushed. Lucy looked at him and shook her head sadly.

"Another disappointment," she sighed, and turned to Grace. Grace immediately understood that she was also a disappointment. "Why aren't you in the Hospital Wing?" she asked with feigned disinterest. Grace put her head in her hands. Just what was Lucy expecting? That she should run to Alex and declare that she felt the same? That she'd been secretly longing for him all this time? Of course not. She found it impossible to admire him for anything when his general attitude towards her was still so openly hostile. The fact that she no longer baited him appeared to have lessened the tension slightly, but he was still impossible, and why should she have to make an effort with him just to satisfy other people? If he really did like her it should be the other way around. She shook her head. Of course, she was still going to visit him. She wanted to make sure he was okay.

"If possible it would be nice if we could become friends," Grace concluded abstractly. Rose and Albus stared at her. Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"I don't-" Lucy started.

"Was I talking about you?" Grace asked rather more sharply than she'd originally intended. She frowned at the Ravenclaw. Lucy's eyes widened. "You're being unreasonable. Also, how dare you wish failure on anyone, no matter how annoying they are? I don't see you trying to achieve anything with your life." Lucy flushed scarlet, pursed her lips, stuck her head in the air and pushed past the knot of first years to join the crowd of Slytherin supporters leaving the stands.

"So, you've met Lucy?" Albus checked. Grace bit her lip. Had she been too harsh? She didn't know what to say so she just nodded. They had conflicting points of view. Although it was likely that Lucy conflicted with everyone. She probably enjoyed it.

"I never knew it was biologically possible for your family to produce someone like that," Scorpius muttered sarcastically. "Aren't you descended from greatness?" Albus blushed, but Rose looked thrilled to pieces at what she obviously mistook for a compliment.

"Roxy thinks Lucy had to make up in nastiness what Molly does in niceness," she said, smiling disarmingly at him. Grace frowned. It wasn't like that. She was sure Lucy couldn't be explained so simply. For some reason it annoyed her. She pitied the older girl. Pitied her for being difficult, and the difficulties she must face as a result of that. She wanted them to get along, even more than she wanted to with Alex. In his case all she wanted was to stop fighting, which in a large part meant she wished he'd go away. But Lucy... she wanted to spend more time with her. Wanted to find out exactly what it was that bothered her so much. What made her tick, so to speak?

She followed the other first years as they exited the stands, and spilled out onto the grass below with the rest of the school. She watched Marlowe, Sebastian and Wedby reliving the best parts of the match for Harriet who laughed dutifully at all the right places. Belinda and Jeremy followed more sedately behind them, the first feigning boredom, and the latter excitement. Rose was tailing Scorpius, shadowed by her two Ravenclaw friends, as he in turn tried to talk to Celia. Her best friend was livid, and was muttering something scathing, probably about Rose, who blushed before beginning another argument as they filtered through the older students walking slowly back towards the castle.

"So, what was that all about?" Albus asked her when they'd fallen behind enough to not be overheard. She'd sort of expected this. Of course he'd be curious about her interaction with his cousin. But she was glad to share it with him. She didn't know exactly where to start, but it was troubling her, and Albus had a knack for understanding, a depth of consideration for other people's feelings that she both admired and envied. Furthermore, he would know his own family far better than she, an outsider looking in. He would recognise her confusion when broaching the subject of Lucy. Her confusion, but also her caution. She worried about the other girl without exactly knowing why.

"I don't really understand her," she said at last, and wondered what she was asking for? Lucy's background? Her life story? Why did it bother her so much? "James thinks she's lonely." Grace thought so too, but that wasn't really the issue. Albus fiddled with his glasses before looking at her.

"Are you having secret meetings with my family behind my back?" he joked, although maybe he was half-serious. Grace thought about it. He was right. It was weird that she ran into James so much. She was sure he had engineered it that way for Alex's sake, but how?

"They do pop up rather often," she agreed. It was unerring. Albus frowned at her. She supposed the idea was unsettling for him. But she didn't want to talk about the why of it. She really didn't want to acknowledge Alex's feelings aloud. That might mean she'd have to do something about it, and she really didn't want to. There was an expression: let sleeping dogs lie. The Hogwarts school motto was much the same thing. _DRACO DORMIENS NUNQUAM TITILLANDUS_. Do not tickle a sleeping dragon. Grace had never understood why anyone should feel the need to. Although, thinking about it, it seemed just the sort of thing James Potter might do. Just to see if he could. That was what made him so irritating, and also so likely to change people's lives. Celia and Scorpius had that same ability, she realised. In their case, their inability to let things go came from an ambition to make the world a better place. That was what made her so desperately want them to succeed. Albus had probably felt the same way. That train ride had changed both of their lives.

Grace bit her lip. She should tell Albus, if only to explain why James paid any attention to her. Especially since he so rarely made time for Albus. Grace felt deeply uncomfortable at that thought. Almost guilty. As if she had been stealing James away from Albus on purpose, and now deeply regretted it.

"This is beginning to sound like a conspiracy," he said, again in that half-serious joking manner. He was trying to put her at ease, but he hadn't mastered the knack of hiding his own misgivings. She moaned unhappily, a nasal sound powered by an entire lungful of air.

"It's not," she said. "It's completely stupid." She hesitated on the words. It was exactly like fighting down vomit when you were unbearably seasick. You knew you'd feel better once it was out of the way, but the act was far from appealing. "James has decided Alex likes me." Albus cringed. It is a well-known fact that little girls love to discuss the loves and likes of others, whilst little boys detest it. They would rather eat spinach or slugs than be involved in such a conversation. With a single sentence Albus regretted beginning the dialogue with her, and she regretted her confession to him. It shouldn't have been necessary or important, but it was, and Grace was disgusted with herself for thinking so. "I'm only telling you because it's the _only_ reason James keeps tracking me down," she rushed, feeling her face growing hot under the ridiculousness of the situation. She bit her tongue on the unnecessary details. Albus wouldn't want to know that James had decided the ideal solution was to entrap the two of them until Alex worked out how to be normal. He wouldn't care that Alex would probably never do so. "Lucy told me," she continued shortly. "James had been annoying her about it and she..." What? Took it out on Grace? It felt that way but it was probably the wrong choice of words. "Confronted me?" she suggested, looking awkwardly off towards the lake. She wondered if Albus was judging her, and couldn't find the courage to look and see what his expression was. "It's not as if… I'm not being weird and tracking them down behind your back." It was such a lame thing to say. She wanted to disappear.

"Let's… walk around the lake," Albus suggested, glancing around them at the dwindling students. Grace agreed. The Quidditch teams would be coming out of their changing rooms soon, James Potter amongst them.

Albus looked thoughtful as they walked. Grace, to contrast, stopped thinking altogether which was a momentary relief. She focussed on the way her breath ghosted in front of her, and drew her cloak and scarf tighter around herself for warmth. She found it amazing that Albus could take the time to draw all of his thoughts together like this. Not that she was the type to blab the first thing that came into her head, but if she were agitated anything she tried to suppress often floated straight to the surface. She tried to be more deceptive and cunning than she was capable of. Was it a sign that she was in the wrong house? Or was it a case of her immaturity holding her back? If it were the former she wouldn't change it for the world. Her friends were the most brilliant people she'd ever met. She would never leave them. If it were the latter… she wondered in that childlike state of mind what she might be like when she was older. Unlike Celia or Scorpius she didn't have a dream she was pursuing, so the future was hard to imagine.

"I was starting to feel a bit jealous," Albus said at last, breaking into her thoughts. "I've always looked up to James. He's always been ahead of me. He's older, and that means he gets to do everything first. Riding broomsticks. Coming to Hogwarts. It's not that I wanted to be like him. It's not that sort of admiration. Although I wouldn't say I chose Slytherin to be different, either. That was…"

"Because of Scorpius," Grace said, smiling. "Am I wrong?"

"No. Exactly. Scorpius is really remarkable." Albus stared out across the lake. "I'm always going to be thanking Rosie for that. If we hadn't met, I'd have gone on exactly as I was. I'd have asked for Gryffindor, and I guess Rosie would have too. I think she's still a bit annoyed about that."

"Really?" Grace was surprised. She'd never picked up on any anger from Rose. Nothing that couldn't be explained by whatever argument was going on between her, Scorpius or Celia at the time.

"Yeah. Rosie's… she's a lot more fragile than she lets on. She tries to act like the person her parents expect her to be, rather than who she wants to be. On the surface, maybe that doesn't amount to much, but I think it makes her unhappy. It's difficult trying not to disappoint people. Especially in our family because there are so many of us and the others are so high achieving."

"And Lucy?" They had drawn to a stop on the far side of the lake, and sat down. Albus rubbed his hands together for warmth.

"No," he decided. "I don't think that's her problem. Uncle Percy would never put that kind of pressure on her. He fought with our grandparents growing up. I don't know the exact details of it. It's just something Uncle Ron likes to bring up if he's angry. But I don't think she tries to live up to anyone's expectations. Do you? I mean you've met her." Grace nodded. Of course, Albus was right. Lucy acted only for herself. She'd just wanted something to work with. "Maybe it's because of James?" Grace blinked at him. "Well, she's been forced to spend a lot of time with him since they're the same age and we tended to get seated according to that at Christmas – we all go to Granny and Grandpa's house every Christmas. The Burrow. It's probably one of my favourite places!" His face lit up when he went on tangents. "Anyway, that's mostly because the adults want to talk, and think we'll best amuse ourselves with whoever is the same age as us."

"As if age was some measure of maturity," Grace said smiling, thinking of James. Whilst he did have flashes of inspiration, he was generally childlike in his approach to life.

"Well, something like that," Albus said, blushing slightly when he realised he may have inadvertently insulted some people he was rather fond of. "And Lucy doesn't like jokes."

"If she's been on the receiving end of one of James' sweets, I can't say I blame her."

"No, it's more than that. Uncle George, Uncle Ron, Monique, Faye, James… even Roxy to some extent. They all get so carried away, trying to be funnier. Lucy can't stand it. She usually storms off into the garden when that happens."

"Did she get laughed at a lot when she was younger?" Grace asked. Albus shook his head.

"If it was that simple, we'd probably have managed to do something for her by now." Grace poked at the stones edging the lake, feeling disheartened. She shuddered, and slightly regretted sitting down. The cold ground was leaching the heat from her bones. Albus noticed and started fingering his wand, looking thoughtful. "If I do something, do you promise not to tell Rosie?" he asked, looking guilty. Grace nodded, wondering what he was talking about. She never really talked to Rose anyway. His cousin was always far too preoccupied with the other Slytherins. He smiled, then muttered something under his breath. Blue fire oozed out of the end of his wand and sat happily burning away on the ground between them. Grace's mouth dropped open. If he'd done this before she'd been exposed to Rose's she might have freaked out, as it was, she immediately put her hands out to warm herself.

"Wow," she cooed, relishing the feeling returning to her fingertips. "Albus, that's so cool! Useful too." She frowned at him. "How come you don't want Rose to know?"

"Well…" He looked awkward. "It's like I was saying before. She's a bit competitive." Grace didn't remember him saying anything about Rose being competitive, but she certainly knew what he was talking about. Anyone who'd seen her argue with Scorpius or take any lesson with him for that matter would see that competitive streak shining out like a beacon. "It's because of the disappointment thing. I mean, she thinks if she doesn't win every argument, beat other students on every test, she'll have failed."

"That's ridiculous!" Grace snapped. "Who could possibly win on every test?"

"Well, Aunt Hermione for one," Albus said unblinkingly. Grace stared at him. The blue fire cast a strange shadow across his face.

"That's… inhuman," she decided. "But even so, why should that mean you have to hide this from Rose?" He sighed.

"It's not that I have to. I want to." Grace was about to ask why, but he naturally followed with the explanation after pausing for dramatic effect. "See, she's probably not going to manage it. Beating Scorpius at Transfiguration or Defence, I mean. He tries just as hard, and he tries for himself, rather than other people, which makes it easier for him to succeed. Well, not easier, exactly, but… well, it's like Quidditch, I suppose. Like Raz scoring that equaliser even though Lars might have caught the snitch. If you care about something, if it's a personal goal, you can give 110% percent. The task isn't easier, you just feel more motivated to get there." Grace pursed her lips.

"Okay, I get that much," she said. "But how does this relate to the blue fire?" Albus blushed.

"It's one of the few more advanced spells that comes really naturally to her. I guess I just wanted her to have that one." A victory. He was giving her a victory. Grace eyed him suspiciously. She knew she should be blown away by his gesture. Ordinarily she would have been. It was kind. Pure kindness. Only, she had this suspicion Albus might be a much greater wizard than he let on. With this information she could look back on all the classes they'd had together. All the times he'd almost done the spell perfectly the first time, and then messed it up last minute. She hadn't really thought about it. She'd been busy genuinely failing. If she ever had noticed, she might have thought it was a confidence thing. But now…

"Tell me something, Albus. Are you holding back on a lot of spells?" He went bright red. "You _are_! Aren't you?" she cried, half outraged, half impressed beyond belief. He nodded sheepishly. "Albus!" she yelled. "That's… think of the house points you've lost us!" He blinked at her. Blue fire reflected off his glasses, making his eyes strangely turquoise. Then he laughed, slowly at first, but then crescendo-ing, sliding up and out of his throat like a telescope.

"You looked so serious!" he gasped, lying on his back and gasping for breath through his humour.

"I am serious!" she said, but she was grinning as well. House points were usually the furthest thing from her mind, but she couldn't think how else to express her frustration. What else could she have argued? Of course, he didn't need to show off. He'd never needed that to feel good about himself. It didn't surprise her. But still. Why shouldn't he be impressive? Why shouldn't people know he was great? Celia and Scorpius would love this. They'd say it proved their point. That your house meant nothing in the long run. You were who you were. But that if other people found it so important, here was another Slytherin rising to the top. She rested her chin on her hand and looked out over the lake, feeling another rush of pride for the brilliance of her friends. "Albus, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

He stopped laughing. She turned her head to look down at him curiously. He was staring at the sky, his breath ghosting above him and partially obscuring his view.

"I don't know," he said. He was probably the type that would be happy no matter where he ended up. "I guess I've never really thought about it," he told her, sitting up. "Why, do you know?"

"I suppose not," she murmured. "Only." He looked at her as she gasped a little at her own naïveté. "Well, maybe I'll do something with potions?" she suggested, laughing at herself. "It's the only thing I'm any good at." He studied her pensively.

"And you enjoy it, right?" he prompted. A warm flush ran through her as she smiled at him.

"I really do," she agreed. "It may just be following instructions, it may not be particularly difficult, but I really love the smells and the art of it. I've been flicking through our textbook. It looks like you can make anything if you know how, and that's just the beginners level. Can you imagine the possibilities?" He smiled back, but she thought he felt a little sorrowful. "Sorry, I guess it's not as easy for you. You're so secretly good at everything, it must be hard to pick one subject to love." She was only gently teasing him in case he really did take offence. "I bet you could do anything you wanted to, Albus." He blushed.

"Yeah, well…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "If I ever think of something better than impressing James, I'll let you know." She blinked at him.

"That's funny. I've never thought of you as someone that needed to impress anyone," she teased. He shook his head.

"Oh, no. That's where you're wrong. I think I was trying to say that earlier." He frowned, wondering how they'd gotten to this part of the conversation. "I used to think there'd be no point in staying at Hogwarts if I wasn't a Gryffindor. I used to think James was the most important person in the world aside from Mum and Dad." He frowned. "Not that he's not anymore… I still love him. He's still my brother. But I don't think I'd care so much anymore were I to disappoint him."

Grace stared at Albus. His words resounded in her with a surprising familiarity. She could recognise that feeling. That slight sadness of realising the person you'd thought left you behind, that is, the person you'd been pursuing wasn't quite as far away or as perfect as you'd originally thought. When Albus talked of James, she thought of Timothy. It felt like she never saw the Ravenclaw prefect anymore, even though she'd definitely seen him far more than she had in the last four years. Why was that? Because each contact was a diminution of the time before? Because the conversations in school corridors were polite and in passing? Because the sense of familiarity she'd thought she shared with him didn't seem to exist here in Hogwarts compared to when they were at home? No. It was more than that. It was much more similar to what Albus was expressing.

She'd always thought Timothy was cool, admired him for more than the simple kindness he showed her. It was because he'd always been the one to teach her about magic. She had fond memories of the times he'd read her stories from history of magic texts – not the boring Professor Binns renditions, but in the way they were meant to be told: full of gore and quests for justice, freedom and vengeance! Exactly the kind of story all little kids secretly love. He used to make up such a huge part of her life. That was the point. It wasn't that she loved him any less. Although she was beginning to doubt whether the love she imagined was the same as the kind her parents had shared. Love came in many forms, didn't it? And the more she thought of Albus and James, the more she realised that maybe she'd been seeking Timothy's approval more than anything else. She'd wanted to be spoilt by him. Exactly the way she thought a sibling might.

It wasn't that she loved him less, just differently.

And being here with Scorpius, Albus and Celia had shifted her perspective. Timothy simply wasn't as all-consumingly important to her anymore.

"Maybe, it's because of Hogwarts," Albus said at last, very quietly. "Because there are so many people here that have surprised me, and made me think about things I'd never thought of before. This place… it surpassed my wildest imaginings a long time ago, even though I spent most of my childhood dreaming of Hogwarts. The world is a big place, isn't it?" She nodded, following his logic. "It's bigger now than I'd ever realised it could be, and I'm sure it will only continue to grow." He picked up the blue fire and held it out in front of him, staring into it as if it held all the secrets of the universe. "I think that's really exciting," he said, turning and smiling at her.

"But?" she prompted, knowing there was always a '_but_'.

"But I wish I hadn't realised it so soon," he whispered. He closed his hand, and the fire went out.

* * *

She went to see Alex after that. Just to check he was okay. By the time she got there (and after James had bellowed '_what kept you?!_') Alex had become rather cheerful. Whether that was because he'd had a pretty big gathering of well-wishers, or because of the potion old Madam Pomfrey had given him, she would never be able to tell. She hadn't stayed for long, just in case it was the potion that was responsible and he reverted back to normal Alex whilst she was there.

The Slytherins celebrated in the common room that night. With the sheer crush of people the dungeons actually became momentarily warm. Lars, who was the only player determined to feel sorry for themselves in the light of the draw, was quickly forced to change his mind by the copious application of butterbeer, a barrel of which was brought to them courtesy of Professor Longbottom (in Sebastian's words '_officially: now the coolest professor ever, even if he does like plants and all that._') in the spirit of good sportsmanship (and the fact that Mrs Longbottom was the proprietress of the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, according to older students, and Professor Longbottom was incapable of blatantly favouring his own house). Apparently Professor Moors arrived on the dot of midnight to chase them all to bed, but by that time she turned up, Grace had already gone to bed with the other exhausted first years.

The password changed after that to: "_sine labore nihil._"

"It means nothing without work," Pandora Rowan had told them, sniffing through her continual cold.

"Why must all the passwords be in latin?" Harriet had complained.

"Because the only other house that might bother with a dead language is the Ravenclaws," Serle Vicks, their other fifth year prefect, had explained. "And they tend to like us. The Gryffindors on the other hand… let's just say there are a few of them that keep trying to break in."

True to their expectations, Albus reported in their next charms lesson that James appeared to have been given a whole month's worth of detentions. Grace had snorted and tried to get on with her severing charm. Albus, she noticed, kept using '_reparo_' whenever Flitwick looked to be coming in their direction. Still playing the understated genius.

"What're you going to do when exams come round?" she demanded of him. "Deliberately fail?"

"No. Of course not," he'd replied, severing the string as soon as Flitwick's back was turned. "I'll come third." She understood that he'd reserved first and second for Rose and Scorpius to battle it out. Even so, aiming for third seemed an impossible task. He'd have to rely on Rose and Scorpius performing exactly to his expectations. She didn't think it would be possible for him to judge it exactly right.

In the first week of December Professor Moors circled the Slytherin table taking the names of those students who would be staying over the Christmas holidays.

On the 22nd December, Grace packed up the few things she'd want back in London and said her goodbyes to Belinda, who was the only Slytherin first year staying behind for Christmas.

"Can we make a pact that one year we'll all stay behind?" Belinda asked. Grace had thought it rather whimsical for Belinda, who was usually the most practical of the first years. She wondered if Belinda was planning to stay behind every year. She gave her friend a very big hug, resolving to find her something nice in Diagon Alley at the earliest opportunity.

"That would be incredibly fun!" Harriet enthused, and they'd all made the pact, but Grace felt terrible doing so. She'd love to stay one year. She wanted to see what it was like, and if everyone else stayed, she wanted to be there with them… only, how could she abandon her dad for the holidays on top of everything else?

The nine of them piled onto a middle carriage and found two compartments next to one another. Grace went with Celia, Scorpius and Albus. Wedby, Harriet, Sebastian and Marlowe took the other. Jeremy was momentarily indecisive, before picking the other compartment.

"I predict your cousin will turn up again," he told Albus by way of explanation before leaving them. Albus frowned after him.

"Doesn't he like Rose?" he asked.

"He's probably bored by the arguments," Grace pointed out, knowing Jeremy was easily bored by anything even remotely repetitive.

"So... he picked Sebastian and Marlowe instead?" Scorpius quipped, raising an eyebrow at her. "I didn't think we were that bad."

"Merlin, let's talk about something else," Celia groaned, wriggling in her seat until she was more comfortable.

"Did he ever tell you what happened after that?" Albus asked Grace, turning to face her all of a sudden. She looked at him dumbly. She had no clue what he was talking about.

"Who?" she asked, frowning in turn. "Jeremy?"

"Yeah, you know." He looked at her intently, as if trying to communicate mentally. She was still lost. "On Belinda's birthday."

"Oh!" Her lips parted in surprise. "No. And I forgot to ask. That's terrible, isn't it?" Albus made a noise in the roof of his mouth and she pushed his arm, instantly aghast at his disapproval. "Don't agree with me!" she tried to laugh it off.

"I wasn't!" he said quickly, holding up his hands to fend her off. "I forgot too." He became more serious. "And I'm the one that lives with him." He looked thoughtfully at the doorway.

Celia looked between the two of them, as if trying to decide which of them she'd rather light on fire.

"Stop talking in code," she ordered. "And tell me what you're on about." Even Scorpius looked mildly intrigued. Grace looked to Albus and wondered if they should. It had been a secret.

"It was trouble with his parents," Albus told them, being both specific and unspecific at the time. Grace stared at him. He hadn't even thought about it. He'd just rephrased the problem in such a way as he was sure Celia and Scorpius would definitely misunderstand. They'd draw their own conclusions based on the battles they wanted to fight, and decide Jeremy's parents had said something about Slytherin. "But don't bring it up, he doesn't like talking about it." In the oddest way, it worked. Scorpius and Celia could both be very careful not to step on someone's toes if they were given the right incentive. Such as the need to support a fellow Slytherin fighting that same injustice. It was a deception. But it was a clever deception. Grace wanted to tell Albus it was the first truly Slytherin thing she'd seen him do, but that might give it away, so she bit her tongue. "What?" he asked her, noticing that she was staring.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head and looking back at the others again. "I can't believe we're already going back again. Can you remember when we first met? I know it wasn't that long ago, but it feels like a lot has happened." Celia grinned.

"We were a little intimidating, weren't we?" she asked.

"Intimidating?" Albus repeated, looking confused. "How were you _intimidating_?" Celia pursed her lips.

"Are you suggesting I can't be intimidating?" she demanded. Albus held up his hand again. He must be wondering what it was with girls that made them overreact like that.

"On the contrary, Celia," Scorpius cut in smoothly. "You are one of the most intimidating girls we've ever met."

"Certainly more than me," Grace agreed with a laugh. "I couldn't intimidate an ant."

"I dunno," Celia mused, scratching her chin. "I reckon your neighbour might disagree with that. I mean you can be scary when you tell someone off, Grace." Grace was perturbed.

"No, really?" she asked, looking at the two boys for their reaction. They saw the panic on her face and laughed, not unkindly.

"It's okay, Grace," Scorpius reassured her. "Celia's still in shock from that potions class in first week." Celia blushed prettily and poked Scorpius in the side when he started cackling.

"I'd forgotten about that," Albus said nostalgically.

"Well, you were _really_ mean to Belinda at first," Grace mumbled under her breath, still feeling self-conscious about it.

"I got better!" Celia argued. Grace blushed even more when she realised her defence had sounded like a recrimination.

"I know. I'm sorry I brought it up," she said.

"Actually, I'm fairly sure Celia did," Scorpius pointed out, and both girls looked balefully at him.

"Must you be _right_ about _everything_?" Celia demanded, crossing her arms. Scorpius thought about this for a moment before nodding that yes, he must. Celia shook her head despairingly at Grace. "This is why I hate him," she grumbled.

"Ceils," Scorpius said, using his '_let's be practical about this_' voice. "You love me like the brother you never had."

"I have a brother," she pointed out, needlessly.

"And a brother complex," Scorpius reminded her. She went fantastically red, jumped to her feet and attempted to beat Scorpius around the head.

"I-DO-NOT! STOP-SAYING-THAT!" she yelled between thumps. Albus turned to Grace as if this were an everyday occurrence.

"Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" he asked blandly. She giggled. The compartment door opened, causing Celia to freeze guiltily, but it was just the trolley lady, serving snacks. Grace bought another pumpkin pasty, half of which she forced on Celia (she didn't protest _that _much), whilst Albus and Scorpius bought a whole army of cauldron cakes between them.

"I'm going to get fat!" Celia complained, eyeing up their stack of food with considerable envy.

"Yes, Ceils," Scorpius said, nodding sagely. "That's how it works. All you have to do is look at it, and you start gaining pounds." He picked up a cauldron cake to demonstrate and pushed it in front of her face. Grace turned back to Albus to resume their conversation about the weather.

"How often do you reckon wizards get in trouble for making it snow on Christmas?" she wondered. He looked thoughtful.

"I don't know if they do," he said. "Dad says Muggle weather forecasters are well known for getting it wrong. We've been manipulating the weather from the beginning."

"Scorpius!" Celia yelled, so loudly Grace looked back to the two of them. "Stop it!" But she already had chocolate smeared down her left cheek. She kicked Scorpius furiously, and he yelled in pain, clutching his stomach in agony.

"Merlin, Celia!" he yelled. "Too far!"

The compartment door opened again, and Rose Weasley stood there blinking down at Scorpius.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking completely weirded out. She must be wondering what on earth she'd walked in on.

"Yeah." Scorpius winced as he stood up.

"Don't be silly," Rose said, standing next to him. "Let me see." She pushed up his shirt and stared at his stomach as if there would already be bruises forming. Grace blushed and looked away, widening her eyes at Celia who was looking on incredulously.

"Does looking make it better?" Scorpius asked, beginning to smirk. Rose went scarlet and dropped his shirt as if he'd set her on fire. She almost squeaked, spun rigidly to face Albus and waited for him to say something to make the awkwardness go away.

"I didn't know you had any medical training." Rose covered her face with her hands, and looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor. Albus had clearly said the first thing that popped into his head, and now looked incredibly apologetic about it. Grace burst out laughing. She laughed and laughed until her sides hurt, and every time she saw Albus' mortified expression she laughed harder.

"I didn't-" she gasped, almost crying. "Medical training!" Grace laughed so violently she physically shook. "Albus that was awful!" she cried at last. "I mean-" She really tried to get her laughter under control. She saw Rose's face was still burning in shame, and Scorpius still had that awfully smug look on his face. She got to her feet. "Sit down the pair of you!" she ordered, pushing Scorpius' shoulders until he collapsed next to Celia again, and manoeuvring Rose into the window seat beside Albus where she had previously been to give her some space from Scorpius. She collapsed on Albus' other side. "I mean, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," she told him, grinning wildly. "Who has medical training at our age?! And if you say your Aunt Hermione I'll seriously find some Veritaserum to test on you!"

"Isn't that illegal?" he asked. She scowled.

"Not the point, Albus! Not the point."

"What do you mean '_your Aunt Hermione_'," Rose asked, still pink in the face and therefore eager for the distraction.

"I'm sorry," Grace said. "But I refuse to believe there wasn't _something_ she was bad at." This had been bothering her ever since their conversation by the lake. "Surely she couldn't beat your dad at Defence," she told Albus, who put his head to one side, conceding the point to her. Rose pursed her lips tightly.

"Being good at a subject doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll get a good exam result," Celia said wisely, crossing her legs. Grace nodded.

"Let's _not_ talk about exams," Scorpius said tiredly. "They're five and a half months away."

"That's an awfully precise figure, Scorpius," Celia remarked, looking at him suspiciously. As if he'd be the type to study in secret. Scorpius shrugged.

"What do you want for you birthday, Albus?" Grace asked, changing the subject in case Rose decided to be competitive again. It might be worse than the time she'd tracked him down to measure the length of her transfiguration essay against his. Albus looked nonplussed.

"You know, I never look at the calendar Harriet and Belinda made for us," Celia told Albus, possibly by way of apology. "Is it today?"

"No." He shook his head. "The day after next."

"Christmas eve!" Celia exclaimed. "Double the presents!"

"You'd think so," Albus said. "But it doesn't really work out that way. And you don't have to get me anything," he told Grace.

"Yeah," Scorpius remarked grumpily. "Why does _he_ get a present?"

"Because you didn't actually tell anyone it was your birthday, Scorpius!" Grace said exasperatedly. "Celia announced it. That's why we made the calendar, remember?"

"When was your birthday?" Rose asked curiously. She'd been rather quiet.

"Halloween," Celia said quickly before Scorpius could, which Grace thought was an odd thing to get competitive about.

"Happy birthday for then." Grace exchanged a look with Albus.

"Rose's is the 15th February," he announced, as though he were answering her question and Grace smiled at him. She liked that they were on the same wavelength sometimes. Scorpius scratched the back of his neck.

"You'll have to remind me," he said. "I have no memory for these things."

"Maybe I'll stick the calendar to your forehead," Celia grumbled. "If you forget _my_ birthday I wont forgive you." He shot her a smug look.

"Don't worry, Ceils, I've already got your present sorted." She was taken aback by that.

"It's not something weird is it?" she checked.

"Not at all. It's a mirror," he announced, and her eyebrows rose.

"A mirror," she repeated dryly. "Is that a witty statement about my vanity? Or because I still have cake on my face?" He grinned.

"It is rather fetching."

"Brings out your eyes," Albus agreed, in such a way that Marlowe would have been proud of him. Celia rolled her eyes and scrubbed and her face with the sleeve of her robes, and Rose cackled quietly to herself. Grace wondered, not for the first time, why Rose had abandoned her Ravenclaw friends. She wondered if they'd had a fight, or if it was simply that Rose wanted to spend more time with Scorpius. She glanced at Albus, grinning at Celia's annoyance, and wondered if it bothered him that yet another member of his family had developed a preference for someone else.

* * *

The Hogwarts express rolled into Kings Cross in the darkness of a usual winter afternoon. The platform was crowded with parents, craning to find their students and Grace realised she'd failed to make a plan of where to meet her dad. She panicked.

"How are we meant to find anyone in this?" she asked, gesturing at the chaos around them as they descended from the train.

"Oh, there's Dad!" Celia said and skipped off towards a rather handsome dark haired man without a backward glance.

"Alright for some," Scorpius muttered. Grace and Albus looked at him curiously. He sighed. "My parents hate crowds," he explained. "They're going to be late to avoid the crush. Not that I blame them."

"Well, come wait with us then," Rose suggested, forgetting the Weasley-Malfoy feud for the moment and taking pity on him. She'd spent most of the train ride with them in the end, only leaving once or twice to fetch things. Grace looked around for her Dad, but everyone was so much taller than her she had no clue how to find him. Just then a red-headed blur cannoned into Albus, knocking him back a few paces.

"Lily!" Albus cried, grinning and hugged his sister back affectionately. "Guys this is my little sister," he introduced as she pulled back. She took his hand and stared curiously at them with light blue eyes. "Lil, these are Grace and Scorpius."

"Scorpius?" Lily asked, wrinkling up her nose at him. Grace wondered if this little girl had already been poisoned against him, but found it hard to believe considering how Albus had turned out. More likely she thought it an odd name.

"Did you know there have been seventy-two wizards called Scorpius in the history of Hogwarts?" Rose said suddenly. "So it's really not such an odd name. It's traditional." Grace wondered how on earth Rose had known that.

"Riiiight," Scorpius drawled, similarly disturbed. Rose blushed. Lily took a moment to take in their awkwardness and, finding it boring, started tugging on Albus' hand impatiently.

"Come on, we're over here!" she announced, leading the way through the crowd.

Rose looked expectantly at Scorpius until he grudgingly started walking along in the Potters' wake. Grace walked beside him, having little else to do. She didn't want to be left on her own. Besides, if James was there he might know where the Carlsdales were, and she could always prevail upon Sally Carlsdale to help. By the time they got there Albus was already being engulfed by both of his parents in turn. There was no doubting that Mrs Potter and Mr Weasley were related, because they looked very alike. Harry Potter was identical to his chocolate frog card. Quite surprisingly, Grace felt all flustered as they approached and Albus prepared to introduce them. She'd never met a celebrity before. She wasn't sure what the protocol was, and was therefore incredibly relieved to have Scorpius there. He attracted the adults' attention like a lightning rod. In particular Rose's father was looking at him like he was something particularly unpleasant the cat had dragged in.

"This is Scorpius," Albus introduced, beckoning them over.

"Hello, Scorpius," Mr Potter said, smiling and holding out his hand. Of course, Albus was bound to have written home about Scorpius at some point. It was only natural that they should be accepting of him.

"Hi," Scorpius said, shaking Mr Potter's hand with a smile, and then, with the most minimal of hesitations, he offered the gesture to Ron Weasley. If Rose's mum hadn't put a hand on her hip and given her husband a stern look, Grace was positive he wouldn't have accepted. But he reluctantly shook hands with Scorpius in turn, frowning at what he thought of as a catastrophic turn of events. "Pleased to meet you," Scorpius said in an oddly polite tone of voice. Grace wondered if he was trying to make a good impression. Albus shook his head in amusement.

"And this is Grace," he continued, as if nothing remotely eventful had taken place.

"Oh, hi," she squeaked, disliking the fact that three of the four parents looked at her all at once. Ron Weasley was still looking between his daughter and Scorpius with an expression of serious concern. He crossed his arms over his chest with a deeply distrustful air, as if he wasn't happy at all to see them. The little boy clutching Ron's trouser leg also noticed, and copied his father's expression.

"Hello, Grace," Mrs Potter said. "Where're your parents?"

"Uh, somewhere nearby, I hope," Grace said distractedly, wondering why Scorpius hadn't been asked the same? Perhaps they wanted to avoid the Malfoys if at all possible, having only made an exception for Scorpius for Albus' sake. Her attention was divided as Rose grabbed Mrs Weasley's hand and asked a question that must have been bothering her for hours.

"Mum, who was better at Defence Against the Dark Arts between you and Uncle Harry?" Hermione Weasley was nonplussed.

"Your Uncle Harry, of course," she replied, looking in his direction for agreement. Rose's face went slack with shock. Then Albus, who had also been listening, asked something beautiful.

"Did you mind coming second?" Hermione stared at Albus in wonder.

"Of course not," she said, frowning. She crouched down to look Albus in the eye, glancing very briefly in Rose's direction. "Your dad's amazing. There's no shame in losing to someone that talented. Is it something you're worried about?" Albus shrugged. He would never lie in words.

"I don't want anyone to be disappointed," he said, carefully. Scorpius' eyebrows rose.

"Winning isn't everything," he told Albus, apparently unaware of Rose hanging on his every word. "Competitions are only fun if you have a worthy opponent." Grace tilted her head to the side and tried to resist the smile threatening to burst across her face. Honestly, she had no idea if Scorpius knew what was going on or not. He could just as easily be lecturing Albus for all she knew. Maybe that was exactly what made it sound so brilliant. Rose would never take well to being preached. She suspected Albus had meant for this to happen all along.

* * *

Author Notes:

I've been wanting to seriously highlight more of Albus' more deceptive side. It's all good-natured, but he is very cunning, isn't he? In my mind, Albus fits in Slytherin and would only have been a Gryffindor if he asked to be. There were a lot of times in this chapter that I got annoyed about having to tell the story through Grace's point of view. When we get to the latter years, I think I'll have to pick a different narrative style. There are a lot of scenes where she's kind of superfluous to the events unfolding, but I need her to be there to observe. It shouldn't be so difficult because they're all friends, but she's not very good at taking the initiative apparently... I'm also feeling more and more tempted to skip to fifth year... Anyway this chapter has one of my favourite scenes, with Albus and the blue fire. I love that. It's something I think a lot of people find, growing up. You lose track of people who used to be really important because there's so much going on. Do you agree?

Luv Ya

XxMookinexX

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